Resurrection
by Dread Barb
Summary: 1,200 great years since the return to Earth, and EVE has risen as the leader of man and machine. The Earth has emerged far more powerful than ever. But an enemy will rise, and EVE and Wall•e will have to journey through hell to save Earth and mankind.
1. Foreword

**RESURRECTION**

Post-Axiom Renaissance

2815 A.D—4415 A.D

Foreword from Dr. Roland Doyle, chancellor of Sequitur academy and former historian.

_Man...War... Greed... The poisons of a doomed world. What else has he? There was nothing more defining in him than his savagery. It was not until a noble but naïve force rose to free a species of it's eternal curses. Dooming them to a life of nothing but drunkenness and ecstasy was but a crippling disfavor. What has he to learn? What purpose? What meaning has his life now that it ends? _

1,200 years, two elders. Humanity's only means of reclaiming their former glory would rest in the hands of them. It was him who taught the first humans to push aside boulders of a reborn planet, to pulverize the falling temples that only served to remind them of their ancestor's greatest failure and sin. It was her who united the children of her forefathers and bestowed upon them the gifts of a fruitful civilization, doing what she was born to do. The two wise elders, free from the weakness of men, and yet they were human. Free from their nature, and yet blessed with the one thing that makes an horrid species equally beautiful. Emotion... Love...

Humans and machines have come so far in the last 1,200 years. The changes that swept through the old Earth were beyond anything the humans had ever achieved. To stop and think of these things would overpower minds and challenge the wisdom of old men and machines, and no document can help create the connection of an event that restored the Earth to its ancient glory. Whatever they indicate, they can never truly depict the sheerness of the Earth Renaissance. The Earth Renaissance, more than just dire times for humans to redeem themselves from their sins and secure honor for their ancestors. It was a time in which humans and machines found their purpose. They became stronger and far more useful for a species, regaining their instinctive resourcefulness as much as the less noble aspects of their nature.

The first humans to land would task themselves with cleansing the Earth of the rubble and contamination still saturating the land. For new shelters and ambition to grow they would need space and resources. Most production began in their old home Axiom, and it was not until they rapidly expanded that newer centers of production began to sprout across settled lands. Humans would begin exchanging products and services once more.

But aside from the need of motivated humans, strong machines, and resources, they needed discipline. Humans and machines needed a leader. Captain McCrea became the instant figure of authority. For a reign of 200 years, he ruled over the growing humans and robots that reclaimed the lands. His curiosity for past human history and knowledge helped him in making well-thought decisions his fellow brothers needed to resolve. He would retire at the old age and lived for 279 years. He died knowing he was a part of an ancient movement that would change countless futures, and ultimately the Earth herself.

Humans would begin to spread across in greater numbers. They manufactured more machines to ensure both species would fill the earth and cleanse it. Together they tamed and ruled over the beasts that emerged from their sanctuaries once the Earth became a planet capable of sustaining vast life. Much had already been achieved when the captain died, but it was merely the beginning. The city Wall-e inhabited for 700 years was rebuilt in 72 years. It and the neighboring communities were declared historic sites, to be remembered as the first areas humans reclaimed and where the resources to claim distant lands would come from. It was now that humans and robots began to grow more and more independent, and greater in numbers, and after establishing their universal center of resources, recolonization and expansion became a new objective. New leaders were needed.

During this time humans appointed some men McCrea had recommended, but they were nothing more than incompetent fools, afraid of taking on new endeavors or embarking on perilous journeys necessary to help their people grow. Most were the same corrupt men of their ancient time, taking many resources for themselves and their friends and leaving little for those who commissioned them. This caused division among those who supported and opposed these leaders. Tensions grew as humans longed for power and authority. Unity among humans began to crumble. All humans were going down the slope of their ancestors; a road their predecessors had struggled to avoid. Something had to be done. A new leader was needed.

An unprecedented move, but seeing there was no choice, Eve offered to lead the humans and machines. Uniting them was all she wished for.

_Eve_

EVE was compelled to help them. She could not stand and watch the children of her creators threaten each other with death. She had seen their behavior before and learned its vicious grasp on their human minds. Some humans and machines favored the idea, but others opposed it. Those who favored her potential leadership claimed her to be a selfless and competent being who, along with her lover Wall-e, saved humanity and machines from an uncertain future just living out our lives in the vacuum of space. Her persistence to find the key to save Earth and us only showed a bit of what she may be capable of. Her opponents believed that humans should only govern humans, and they did claim she lacked experience. Her massive number of supporters couldn't disagree. Eve lacked the leadership experience for humans. She had taken the road in leading her fellow machines, but humans would be a far more challenging task.

Determined to have their Eve become the leader of the tribes, her supporters sought to give her the necessary experience. She was allowed to govern a fairly large city called New Winds that needed desperate reconstruction, from its crippled infrastructure to uncivilized citizens. If she were to restore the city to a minimum functioning level, her candidature would be granted. She was given fifteen years years to prove herself.

To the surprise of millions, EVE rectified the town in twelve years. This was unlike anything ever witnessed. The town was a powerhouse of resources, manufacturing many goods and services that would prove invaluable to the future expansion into the unknown. The uncivilized had been removed from the depths of the city and the corrupt stripped of power. In their place were now motivated citizens active in the development of programs and innovations for the expansion into the unknown. How was this possible? Even to this day historians are unsure how to explain the phenomenon. The inhabitants admired their Eve, even the reformed criminals. She devised effective resolutions to the many problems present in the city, but made sure they were fair. This was a major blow to Eve's opponents, and so they gracefully stepped down and allowed her to become leader. But she never planned to be in power forever, only temporarily. She thought humans should learn from her. However, they wanted her to remain in power, and since she had a tendency to give in to their demands, she became the ruler of the lands and the expansion into the unknown. She would be aided by humans and Wall-e to help her govern the millions of citizens. Now her challenges to change the world began and lead her to her present life.

I cannot emphasize the incredible changes Eve and Wall-e brought to Earth. The many things she helped make possible are too numerous for me to simply list. We can look around and marvel at our present lives, and let us be thankful for their and the sacrifices of our post-Axiom ancestors and their unyielding resolve to find a purpose, to give us a chance to live a life of meaning. Had Wall-e not made the choice to pursue a new meaning in his life, to hang on to that ship returning to the Axiom, we may still be floating in chairs and doing absolutely nothing for ourselves. Perhaps worse. There are many things outside this Earth of which we may never know, many mysteries—threats, and to have idly hovered around and sipped chemicals out of a cup was to beg for disaster.

I thank Wall-e, and I thank Eve. I thank our ancestors, because now, 1,200 years later, this is where we stand...

* * *

**A/N: Hello there! Thank you for giving my story a chance, or if you are reading this chapter again, thanks for checking out the new and improved chapter. This is my take on what life would be like for Wall-e and EVE more than a millennium after returning to Earth. Things have changed for them greatly. I must warn that most of the story up to the current chapter focuses on EVE (Whom I spell in lower case form) and the problems she faces in being a revered and demonized leader of quarrelsome humans and machines who have grown to hate one another. There are many who want to see her and her kind dethroned more than anything, and she will have to do anything to keep the world from tearing itself apart. Old rivals become the deadliest of enemies. A new threat will ravage through the unprepared world, and only then will humans and machines re-unite to defend their Earth one last time. I hope you enjoy it.**

—**To past readers: I decided to spare you all of the out-of-place literary devices and present-tense that permeate the early chapters of this story by rewriting it, and mainly to show my improved skills to new readers. I'm going back and fixing the past chapters of Part I to better suit the new storyline and events I have in mind. I also plan to fix any inconsistencies that may have shown up. I'm also thinking of making this story less gritty and adding some elements of Pixar films while softening the violence and the themes I included before. What all this means is that I'm going to be busy remastering past chapters and writing the new ones for the story. The quality of old chapters pales compared to that of newer chapters, so please just bear with me. I do plan on replacing those amateurish walls of text with only the finest an improved writer has to offer. **

**Okay, enough of that. I will let you know when I've finished improving and posting a past chapter as I submit new chapters in Part II. Thanks.**


	2. Chapter 1: Dusk's Reveille

_A/N: I will let readers know when a chapter has been rewritten by posting it on the author's notes. So please note, this chapter has been remastered. Enjoy._

Chapter 1

—Dusk's Reveille—

"Rise my dear..."

The awareness of existence, at last she knows. What is a new mind to wonder after it is born?

"Welcome EVE..."

She felt tired, yet scared. What was this feeling? What was anything? A blue light pierced through her to the back of her mind, and out of instinct, two objects blocked the light. She stared at the white objects above her. What were they? She noticed they moved when she willed. Are they part of her? What curious object under her. It was part of her too. Her body and arms did as she willed.

"I'm a human." The old man in white approached the newborn Eve, but she felt unsafe. The newborn felt herself swept away by the air, but it was the gravity propulsion. What did the creature want? Why was she here?

"Don't be frightened," the old man said with a gentle voice, extending his open hand to the robot, "come here." What was that? His smile, that smile... She felt less scared of the creature, but why? The blue and waved eyes of the newborn could only give away her growing trust of the creature. It did not seem threatening.

"You will do many great things..." The white hand of the robot met the aged hand of the man, and a new era would begin for all.

...

"_And for a time great things surely followed, but they were short-lived by the ultimate failure of a human condition..."_

_...  
_

Odd, how very odd. Pleasant dreams were a rare thing for her then. It did not make much sense for her to dream of a past event, especially her birth. Perhaps this was a good sign. Perhaps old joys did help to cope with the present mortal coil. It was time to rise again.

"Oh," she whispered, looking down at the rugged floor beneath her oval body. She noticed the faint light of the sun enveloping the sky with a dying orange. Her tasks drained her of too much energy to do anything else anymore, even spend time with him. Their routines had changed in those twelve hundred years. Wall•e was no child. He had changed so much, and her too. He was well aware of the toll of being a leader, and so he gave time for her to release.

But today was a change in routine. She had promised herself to enjoy the sunset with him. It had been a while since they both did something meaningful together, aside from sharing the same bed. When her work began to distance her from being the usual affectionate lover of Wall•e, he began to keep to himself. Not out of spite, but his work had taken away most of his focus from her too. Like human marriages, they were experiencing the same distance. It was okay for them. Only then could their love grow as they lived through the historic times of mankind. They were simply too busy.

Eve was still tired, but she kept her own promises. That old joy of splashing cold water on her visor became a habit, and she always had a vase of water in her bedside to remember how alive she was. Wall•e was always captivated by her love of spritzing water. It was charming. But aside from the tingling sensation, she did it to remind herself that she was not quite numb.

"Ah..." the robot sighed, patting herself with a cloth and hovering out to the balcony where Wall-e was watching the sun set. Beyond the balcony and down below was a sight to behold. The orange sun bathed the horizon with its ever present majesty. The leaves of the forest beyond shone from the rays and created a vision of an ocean, one filled with the life that dwells below. A wind whispered from the south to move the red clouds heading for the western sun. What a sight to behold.

It was not common for days to end in such beauty. But as nature had known since the dawns of time, the humans were too distracted by their own worlds. Citizens were busy helping maintain and expand their artificial worlds, realities no other creature was capable of creating. It was only when the life of human beings became easier by the marvels of their innovation when they lost a part of themselves. Whatever it was, it robbed them of feeling at one with nature. Nature and the stars above, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter as long as one living being was captivated by the sight of the end of a day.

"Wall•e," the robot smiled as she hovered on to be with him. "May I?"

"Of course. Come here." Two as one. The ancient lovers stood side by side, holding hands as firmly as the first day they came to love one another. This was the first time any of them had gone out to the balcony, and it was indeed a soothing change of routine for both of them. The orange glow of the dying sun covered her glowing body, and a bright yellow light shone from his binocular eyes. They took notice of each other, and the old romance was rekindled for a moment.

"I love you so much. You know that, don't you?" Eve grinned, her eyes gazed into Wall•e's eyes, as innocent and hypnotizing as always. They held both hands and swooned over the others alluring shine from the sun. "Tell me..."

"But we lose focus," Wall-e whispered into her, drawing himself closer to plant a kiss. "We have our separate lives. But this is nice for a change."

"Yes, very nice." Wall•e... her reason to live, her reason to endure, her reason to love. Their devotion for each other grew stronger with the years. Much like the humans, they had their times of disagreement. There were times both would fight over the most trivial of matters, but it strengthened their love. They knew to think of each other, and only then did they become a symbol of perfect romance. Humans would praise them for being symbols of hope and love. The cupids of modern times.

Wall•e never did understand his luck. Every time he would marvel at the sight of his love, he could not understand her choice of being with him the first time. She was the epitome of beauty for machines, and he was once a mere cleaner for a mess the humans had created. The times they spent together, and the memories they shared, it seemed like a dream. It seemed as if he never woke up from his slumber. Was he living an afterlife? It never mattered. Eve and him would live together at last.

"Love you," she said with the coquettish tone, the exact one from the first time they had a real date.

"Not as much as me." If only he could say that with the proper tone. "We should go out to a place I visited. They serve art for the senses, if you get me."

"I'd rather not get you, but we could." Only times like this one reminded them to always care. Tragedy only harvested fear of losing each other.

"We'll go." It was then the two noticed the imminent night as the haze of an indigo sky crept from the east. The night sky spread across the distance, and the sun was no more. Moonlight rained unto the Earth below to bring a marvelous conclusion to the day. Wall•e and Eve took a moment to let its kindred beauty envelop their hearts before going to sleep. They were fortunate enough to get a spectacle like this, perhaps more than others. They lived in an isolated piece of land, after all.

The Tower was their home, a sky-high fortress in isolation, mainly for the security of the two. It was far from friends and friends who became family, but it was not the only place for them to be in. Their help and friendships lied beyond the horizon. Old friendships lied above, spread around the Sol colonies. Humans and machines had taken the outer Sol system to have a safe place and prevent another Axiom age.

Eve, feeling more playful than usual in such a long time, swept Wall-e from his treads, wrapping him around her arms. She hovered through tiny fountains where birds would bathe and meet. These were only the beginning of their redecorating plans. She reached for the glass panel, unaware of how heavy Wall•e could be. She struggled to open the delicate barrier, but instead she dropped him to the ground.

"Ow! Hey, what the hell?" Wall•e giggled while lifting himself. He was more concerned with possible damage to the door.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Are you all right?" Eve tried to hold her laughter, helping Wall•e get up.

"Not a big thing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you did that on purpose." Wall•e said, winking his eye, still a bit embarrassed.

"Believe me, dear husband, it would have hurt a lot more." Aggressiveness, Eve was spooked with what she had said. Wall•e always told himself she was being more playful than normally possible.

He could not help but chuckle. "I guess it would." As aware of her in regards to her problems, he rushed inside and avoided eye contact, unbuckling his treads and hanging them on the wall with perfect dexterity. He still used treads to move around. Not much had changed with his appearance. The only thing different in Eve was a tiny crack on her visor, right below her left eye. It was a scar she preserved. It meant something to her, and it would become a part of her.

As he was getting ready to sleep, Eve opened her bedside drawer and pulled out a PDA. It's matched her trademark white gloss. A faint beep from the device signaled a stored message.

"Who was it, dear?" Wall•e asked, lifting himself on to the fluffy bed. Machines with nerve sensors enjoyed comfort as much as their human brothers.

"Ryan." Eve sighed, disgruntled at having contact with him. She noticed it was a rare voice message. He was usually more adept in communicating with words than anything else.

"Oh. Him."

Message from recipient: Ryan Rhineheart

_Eve! It's me! It's me, it's Ryan. How are you? How is all going? Ugh, I'm good, I guess. Wait— no! I'm feeling like shit over here! That jerk Trent is being mean again. Eve, Eve my girl, answer me. I should really talk when I'm not drinking, or I should talk when I'm sober. What? Oh yeah. I had to stand out in the damn cold of Alaska for fifty hours! Nah, wait. I think it's minutes, or days. Nah, I'm sure it's days. Well, I uh, need to tell you something. Shit, why— why I forget so quick? Oh yeah. I f***ing love you man! But you and Trent treat me like shit! Why you all mean to me? Ugh, call me. Say hello to Wall•e for me.  
_

After a moment of silence, Wall•e and Eve could not hold back their laughter. Ryan's drunken tirades were the only enjoyable aspects of being acquainted with him, at least for those who despised him. Eve and her colleagues made a habit of ridiculing the man, but he did not care.

MESSAGE SENT TO RECIPIENT LIST

"We'll talk about that one tomorrow," Eve giggled. Sleeping was her only means of escaping her world, and resting her mind was what she enjoyed more than cold water. Tired for the day, she lied down next to Wall•e . A fluffy pillow and soft sheets, oh what glory! At least she thought. Wall-e offered his hand to her, which she took with much glee. Voice command, and the lights were off. In full darkness, her blue eyes faded, and at last Wall•e and Eve fell asleep holding hands.

The moon began to vanish, the sun rose from the east, and it overpowered the remains of the night. A vague shadow crept away. Their day had already begun.

* * *

**A/N: I made significant improvements in this chapter. I can't believe how much it needed to be fixed. My writing style three years ago was icky. I'm definitely rewriting the other chapters in Part I. Now, if any past readers noticed, I removed a lot of text out from here. Some was just purple prose or irrelevant to the flow of the chapter. You probably won't miss it at all. However, some things did change, like Ryan's message. I hope you got a kick out of that =) You may have noticed that Wall-e has a perfect capability of speaking in full sentences, and notably in correctly pronouncing Eve's name. I included this change to give some realism to the story. After all, wouldn't 1,200 years of having to interact with humans and Eve help him overcome that speech impediment? So if you are reading to other chapters where he was trouble speaking, disregard them. I'm working on them. I will be committing myself to have remastered chapters up soon. I will let you know when a chapter has been remastered by including a note at the beginning of each chapter. Also, if you are by some miracle a new reader, please try not to move on ahead to non-remastered chapters. I'd rather show you a better written story than the stuff of three years ago. But if you can't wait, by all means go on ahead. Just know that those chapters do not reflect my skills today. Well then, farewell for now.**


	3. Chapter 2: Roll Call

Chapter 2

-Roll Call-

Eve wakes up and shrieks a terrible scream. It is odd how such a beautiful probe can create horrible noises. She shakes violently and knocks Wall-e off the bed, who has just woken up from a beautiful dream. Confused, Wall-e tries to console Eve, but she is still asleep, for she does not respond to him and continues to shriek.

"Evah!"

Now she begins to gain flight and spin; a new hazard for Wall-e. With danger present, he still tries to talk to her. But again she is unresponsive.

"Evah!"

Without thinking, he grabs her arms but is soon lifted from the floor into a whirlwind of destruction. Now he feels nauseous and terribly scared. Everything around him is an instant flash of old memories being destroyed in the blink of an eye. He can't take it anymore so, as a last resort, he lets go and is thrown through the glass doors and out the garden. The bed and bedroom walls are being destroyed by Eve's powerful fins. While he is momentarily safe, Wall-e feels the need to call for security, for he worries Eve might hurt herself. Lucky for him, her PDA still lies on the room floor.

Slow are Wall-es movements. He presses himself against the damaged walls to avoid Eve's deadly sharp arms. She spirals out of control and starts to tear through the steel floor with relative ease. She misses the PDA by an inch. As she spins away from it, Wall-e takes a chance and darts himself to the PDA before she comes back. Pressed against the floor, he presses the security button. Blasts of plasma shower the room.

Red alarms wail as a small group of six fit men with tasers run up a flight of stairs and through a clean and white corridor. Two skinny technicians follow behind, with yellow toolboxes on hand. They arrive at the room, where they hear the loud shrieks and noises of metal clanks. A security officer inputs the code that will grant them entry into the room:

**A4-6kQ#R7M-jTWa113-002**

"Hurry!" says one of them.

"All right!"

A few more clicks and, green lights, the door is open. Red smoke seeps out and small fires burn lively. What was once a beautiful haven is now a hellhole.

"Send backup," radios in the leader of the group. He signals his men to move in. They are reluctant to enter, but it is their duty.

The noises have stopped. With guns on hand, the men move in. The dense smoke blocks their view of the room and surroundings, but short sparks of electricity guide them. They are confused as to what is going on. Their best guess is that Eve is malfunctioning, and badly. They take occasional cover by destroyed furniture and metal scraps.

"How the hell did this happen?" asks one of them in surprise.

"Stay focused!" yells the leader.

One of them nearly falls, but the leader gabs him by the belt. They inspect closely and see a big hole in the floor. It makes them take extra precautions. They slowly strafe around it, for certain death lies below. The dense smoke obscures the hole.

"Clear!" shouts one of them. They proceed with caution and find Wall-e in a corner, where he shivers, frightened. The technicians are called via flashlight blinks to come inside.

"Sir are you all right-"

Eve springs out from beneath the hole and aims at the men. Startled, they clumsily take their aim. The technicians cower and dash out. The men yell for her to drop her gun, but that is not possible; that's her arm. She stares at them with eyes of a killer. They stare at her with fear.

"Don't shoot ma'am," exclaims the leader of the group calmly, holding the gun with his sweaty hands, "we're here to help, now please, draw away your gun and let us fix you."

She does not respond and continues to stare them in their eyes. They keep their guns aimed at her, ready to shoot at any sign of aggression. This is so sudden for the men, because they are not used to aiming at the one they're supposed to protect. Wall-e decides to step in between. He won't let them hurt her.

"Sir, get back!" commands the leader in a low voice. He does not want to provoke Eve.

Wall-e stands in front of her; she aims the gun at his eyes. She has the same look on her face as she did the first time she encountered him. He slowly reaches out to her cannon and motions her to draw it away. She continues to stare at him with angry eyes, but instantly, her eyes become dull and pale. She falls to the filthy floor.

"Check her," orders the leader via his radio. The technicians step in and scan her body for damages and malfunctions after tip-toeing around the hole. They are alert, for she could rise up and wreak havoc again. Wall-e stands next to her and holds her hand. He will not leave her, not even after what just happened. The black screen that is Eve's face buzzes blue.

The technicians stutter back. The security men take aim but Wall-e keeps his position next to Eve. The white probe scans the destroyed room with a surprised look. Her eyes meet the sight of the men with guns. Surprised, she holds her hands up in surrender.

"What is happening?" asks a womanly and soothing voice. The men lower their guns with relief. She is back.

"Ma'am," says the leader as he walks up to her, "we believe you had a slight malfunction. It's best if-"

A chunk of metal suddenly falls from the roof and makes the men jump. The technicians scat forward and drop their toolboxes into the abyss. The leader shakes his head in embarrassment and continues, "It's best if you come with us." Wall-e takes her hand and stands next to his beloved wife.

"Malfunction?" asks Eve with puzzled eyes, "impossible. It would have been detected yesterday." She tucks Wall-e under her fin when she sees him shivering.

The leader rubs his eyes with slight frustration and wiggles his nose , a hint of how the smoke makes his breathing difficult and seeing impaired. "Let's talk outside, shall we?"

The group steps out of the wreckage and to the hallway, where many men in black suits wield pistols and rifles. Stewards float in front of the men with lasers aimed at Eve. One of the humans carries an EMP detonator. These are used as a last resort.

"It's safe!" yells the leader as he runs to the front, worried there may be a misfire, "return to your posts! Our leader just needs to be checked."

The men in suits draw away their weapons and walk away in masses. The Stewards hover away in a single file line. It would be best if the incident is kept secret, but the hole in the shaft just yells for attention.

As security leaves, Eve continues the conversation: "I am not malfunctioning. I am fine."

The leader, with hand on gun, responds with concern: "Ma'am, we can't be sure, just come with us." He takes his radio and calls for more technicians: "Bring a bed and 50 V's of anesthetics."

"Soldier!" says Eve, now irritated, "I order you to return to your post. There is no need to worry, I am well." The leader stares at her, unsure whether he should believe her. "Just send a cleanup crew to fix my room."

With hand on radio: "Cancel that." His men and the technicians pack up and walk away. He fixes his eyes on Eve and mutters: "Take care of yourself," he glances at Wall-e, "you too." He draws away his taser and catches up to his men, who are surprisingly eager to return to do whatever it is they were doing. Wall-e is left alone with Eve.

"Wall-e," says Eve with a sad look, "forgive me." She feels guilty for nearly killing him. She would never let anything harm him, and certainly would not hurt him. A bright light shines from the tip of her fin as it turns into fingers. She extends her hand to him in hopes that he will forgive her.

Still shaken from the accident, Wall-e looks at her hand and slowly takes it. Without a doubt, he forgives her. They hug and enjoy a kiss. They want to forget the incident. They want to get on with their lives, together, without any guilt or anger present to stain their love.

The affection of her hug makes Wall-e forget why she went rampant. He is not scared anymore. It's as if nothing ever happened. But something did happen, to Eve. It was not a malfunction, for as she already said, it would have been detected. It was something more complicated, more serious. Whatever it is, she is not going to tell Wall-e. He can go on without knowing, so she thinks. It would only frighten him. To keep him from suddenly remembering, she kisses him unlike ever. He feels a sweet sensation rush through his body and freezes in pleasure. She did it.

After standing still for what feel like minutes in nostalgia, Wall-e regains conscience and remembers Eve's PDA. He takes out it out from his compartment, where he placed it after calling for help, and hands it to her. She sees the time read: **7:25**.

Her eyes widen. It is late. She has to leave, to the Colosseum. Without warning, Eve picks up Wall-e from his treads ands yells : "Hang on!" Immediately she takes flight, with Wall-e in cube form, tucked under her belly, and whizzes past security men and dodges them. She is going extremely fast, even for an old probe. Not even the Stewards get a clear glance of her. Her job is really important, to her and the world.

They come to a halt at a door the size of a WALL-A. What appear to be six humans-in big black armored suit- guard the door. Two more stand by the door's sides. Wall-e keeps up with Eve, who hovers faster than she can tear down a room. Eve swipes a blue electric card and inputs a code. Wall-e stares up at the huge guards; he isn't used to accompanying Eve beyond their room or the housing perimeter. Eve notices his insecurity and holds his hand. This is the first time in many years since Wall-e last came to the hangar.

* * *

The massive door slowly opens and reveals the hangar bay. Thousands of soldiers and repairmen scurry around the huge open area where hundreds of choppers and a few dozen dropships are stationed by the walls. Many catwalks connect with one another throughout and sparks of ships being repaired can be seen. In the horizon lies a colossal white dropship surrounded by armored soldiers and men in suits. Beyond that are the enormous glass hangar bay doors shut closed . They reveal the cloudless blue sky and the distant desert. Compared to the lonely corridors, life bursts in here.

Wall-e and Eve are soon joined by a small militia of plasma-rifle wielding soldiers. They walk down a bronze ramp and through an energy bridge. Repairmen and repair-bots make way for the leader of the world and her life companion. Wall-e decides to circumspect his surroundings and enjoy them since, after all, this is his first time in years. Eve keeps her head up and stares at the white dropship. She, in her head, scans for any flaws or malfunctions the ship may have, even if the repairmen have already checked it. You never know.

The men in suits wait impatiently for Eve to hurry, whom waits for Wall-e to pick up the pace. At last the two of them arrive at the ship. The light of day shines behind the massive vessel. The dropship begins to rumble and emit hot air from the wing panels. The loud roar of the engine soon overcomes the speech of everybody.

"Ma'am!" shouts one of them while holding his hair down, "are you okay?!"

"What?!" responds Eve, pretending not to hear him.

"I heard what happened! Are you sure you want to go?!"

Eve's eyes turn to a frown. "Yes, I am sure! There is nothing wrong with me!"

"All right! Promise you won't go berserk inside?!"

"I promise!" Eve winks.

"Okay then, let's step inside!"

The man walks away and enters the ship through the middle doors. Eve turns around to Wall-e, who bothers a small M-O-like repair-bot by holding a wrench out of its reach. Eve giggles, but takes the wrench from Wall-e's hand and returns to it the repair-bot. It vows its head in respect and crawls away.

"Wall-e..." Eve wants to bid her farewell, but all of a sudden, stops. She sees him disfigured, mangled, and out of life. Her eyes widen with fear. Something keeps her from helping him. He is dying, but she can't help him. Why can't she help him? She wants to, but she just can't. What is happening? She looks around and the hangar is a bloody mess with corpses scattered around. Heat from the floor makes the red air wavy. She hears the screams of the fallen souls. She panics and cover her eyes.

"Evah!" says Wall-e while waving his hand on her face. "What wrong?"

"Huh?" Eve suddenly regains focus. She looks at Wall-e, whom is okay and very much alive. She sighs with relief and tries to forget whatever it is she just saw.

"Nothing wrong." She can't help but hold him and never want to let go. She kisses him, and with a soft voice and sad eyes, whispers: "I love you Wall-e."

Wall-e looks with confusion. Eve is usually very affectionate, but this is more than her usual self. Nevertheless, he feels a good tingling inside.

"Me...love you."

"Ma'am!" yells the man from the top of the rear balcony of the ship, "let's go!"

The moment of intimacy is shattered. Eve frowns and signals him to return inside. She takes a last look at Wall-e and hovers away.

"Evah!" yells Wall-e with her PDA on hand.

"Oh, thank you."

After she retrieves her PDA, Eve proceeds to enter the doors of the dropship, which is guarded by rows of soldiers. The interior of the ship is a cream beige with soft gray seats, with a capacity of 50 passengers. But they are seldom occupied. One seat is stationed in the middle. It's diamond pikes and altar are fit for a king, or in this case, a queen. The main seat even has a massage-bot. But Eve does not take her seat there. Instead she opts for the seat by the window. She feels like watching the world from the sky. The rest of the men come inside and sit close to her, 3 rows to be precise. The man sits behind Eve. Her safety and comfort are his top priorities.

"Are you all set ma'am?"

Eve turns her head to a full 360 degrees. The man looks with surprise.

"Yes, give them the command."

He takes his walkie-talkie and radios in to all pilots and flight personnel:

"_This is the Motherload reporting. Fire up your engines, we are all set. You know the drill people, we head west." _

As soon as the man finishes giving orders, the choppers and dropships begin to initiate countdown . The engines rumble as pilots hurry to their seats, like the soldiers, who run to their dropships while repairmen and bots scatter away. The roars of the hundreds of choppers and dozens of dropships overpower the noise of Eve's ship. The wind and hot air produced by the aircrafts soon spread all throughout, with an occasional rag or empty plastic cup lifted from their place. It is like being in a hurricane. The choppers and dropships begin rise, taking up the free air space. The shine of their metal armor plating makes the hangar glitter like an over sized sapphire .

The thick glass hangar doors slowly open, allowing the hot wind to escape. A loud bang lets the pilots know they are completely open. Eve's dropship floats steadily, and after it makes a few mechanical whirs, it hyper jumps. The shock blast blows Wall-e to the ground. He is the only soul beneath the many ships. The choppers and dropships ascend to the sky to follow the great vessel. Wall-e picks himself up and waves goodbye before being escorted out.

* * *

The armada surround Eve's ship as it slows down. They all travel at the same speed. Not too fast, but not too slow. After a few miles, they are above big green fields where humans and robots thrive. Families of humans and robots are having a small gathering, where good fruits and vegetables ripe off the trees and pure ground are abundant. Some of the chopper pilots lick their lips in hunger. The robots play around with the human children; they carry and swing them around while the little creatures burst in playful laughter. The adults eat while conversing with the robots, whom behave very much like the humans. Two robots carry out a vine of grapes too heavy for mortal men. They place it on top of a wooden table where more humans are gathered. The creatures wave to the bypassing ships. Chopper pilots wave down to the children.

One would expect the world to be so technologically advanced and cold after 1,200 years, but far from it. Humans and robots realized that if they were to keep the Earth alive, they must preserve some of it. For that they reserved thousands of miles of free, green, and natural earth. Some even chose to inhabit these lands. Others chose to live in small towns on the outskirts of major cities. These small towns have a blend of nature and industry, while the major cities are the advanced and cold communities.

Eve turns her head to get a last glance at the humans ans robots. Her heart melts. She loves to see this rare sight. It took so little time for robots to adopt human nature. If only the world were like them. A few miles later the fleet of ships flies above a construction field where men and work-bots reconstruct a factory that was destroyed during a human-robot protest. Eve looks down and sees them lay down their tools of construction and enjoy the good weather. The men seem to have conversations with the robots. Others enjoy a game of cards and some even arm wrestle. Eve is astounded. Usually both creatures ignore each other.

"Enjoying the sight ma'am?" grins the man. He himself looks down upon them.

"Oh," smiles Eve, "yes, very much."

"I must say, that is a rare occurrence ma'am, like a sunset."

Now the armada flies above a small town where things are different from what they've seen so far. The soldiers pay attention to the events that unfold below. Eve is saddened. Two separate groups of humans and robots riot and fight against each other. Police and Stewards try to keep the two separated, but are outnumbered. Fires burn through buildings as the smoke ascends to the sky. Some pilots can hear a few humans curse and shout at the robots. A group of eight human men ambush a Steward and beat it with 2x4s and batons from fallen policemen. A large robot is being mounted by many men, but it shakes violently and gets them off its back. A policeman is beaten by both robots and humans while a robot is tasered by a wounded man. Robots killing humans and vice versa is nothing unheard of. Even now a few rioters lay dead, with blood or vital machinery weeping out from their bodies.. The humans below spot Eve's armada and curse at the sky. Some even throw their batons at the sky. By this time more riot control officers arrive in larger numbers.

"Would you look at that," says one of Eve's men, who also sits by a window, "more humans and their laws of robotics. They never learn."

Eve turns to him, and with a serious face, responds: "Robots don't seem to understand either."

"Of course," responds the nervous man. He had never heard Eve speak like that. "They never learn, both of them."

It's true, they never learn. If only they would put their differences aside. Eve is heartbroken with this reality. Too bad robots also adopted the violent nature of their creators. Things were different back during Reconstruction. Yes, it was a time when unity was strong among the two. Things were better among them, despite the contaminated Earth. Unfortunately, today this is really most of human and robot coexistence.

Eve decides to sit back and relax. The incident back home made her tired, and now feels she deserves some peace of mind. She looks out her window and sees the many buildings majestically sit high as they reach for the sky. Below them, more humans and robots at it again with each other. But curiously enough, there is something different. She sees the robots and humans being torn to pieces by something else. A third party. Blood floods the streets below. Now she begins to panic. She turns to her men, only to horrify herself with the gruesome sight. They are fleshless cadavers with blood splattered on them. The beige walls are no more. Her ship has become a lurid repugnancy, a morose and putrid waste of stagnant disease. A strange mass covers the walls and roof, with large yellow maggots that crawl and spew a green thick fluid. Eve tries to remain calm and grips herself. She will not lose it again. But it has begun. The horrible nightmare returns to her:

_An unknown force holds Eve to the ground as Wall-e walks to her. She calls his name, and he runs faster and faster. She extends her hand as he extends his arm. Out of nowhere, a massive creature, whose appearance is covered by the obscurity of the dark, appears behind Wall-e. Eve yells, but Wall-e does not listen. The creature raises one of it's limbs and wounds Wall-e, leaving him on the ground to die. Eve yells his name as he lies on the floor. With weak arms, the dying Wall-e takes out a light from his compartment. It grows brighter and brighter. The creature becomes visible. It is a terrifying thing, so repugnant and hideous. The monster stares into the light, paralyzed. Soon Wall-e's light illuminates the obscure room, and it becomes a volatile explosion. _

Eve awakens in shock. What a disturbing flashback. Repressing the nightmare does not seem to work. She looks around. Her men stare at her, worried, with walkie-talkies on hand. Everything is back to normal.

"Are you okay ma'am?" asks the man. He orders the men in suits to get up from their seats and attend Eve.

"Yes—yes! I am fine!" responds Eve as she uses her hands to signal the men to sit down. They have no choice but to comply. They keep their eyes peeled.

Still shaken from the disturbance, Eve looks out the window and sees a small forest below. They're halfway to the Colosseum. At this moment, her PDA begins to ring, and the caller is none other but Ryan.

**A/N: So how's the story thus far? I bet people don't even read it. I'm pathetic to think anyone actually bothers. Why, even making those previous statements was pathetic enough. But if you are that one in a million person that is reading this story, then please, write me a review as to what I can do to make this story better. Until then, enjoy...**


	4. Chapter 3: Unexpected Discovery

Chapter 3

-Unexpected Discovery-

Eve takes her PDA and attaches a wire to it from the monitor in front of her. She presses the green button on her device and the monitor buzzes. A familiar figure appears. Ryan is live.

"Hey!" shouts the man in the bold black suit, "did you get my message?"

"Yes," says Eve with troubled eyes, "I did." She sincerely doesn't want to speak with him. He is unpredictable.

"Good," Ryan nods, "now let's talk business."

He takes a bottle of scotch and pours the brown liquid on his glass. His fingers are adorned with gold rings, and they are wrapped around the glass. He wipes his red wrinkled face with a silk cloth and clears his throat. Eve spots an erotic magazine near his arm.

"Read a book," frowns Eve.

"What? Oh this?" Ryan takes the magazine and dumps it inside his desk drawer, "reading books is all I've done bitch. I need a damn break."

"I know what you mean."

Ryan raises an eyebrow, feeling insulted.

"So," he sips scotch, "what are you gonna do about Trent?"

Eve looks at him with a confused face. "I will allow his decision. You are not going."

"What?!" shouts Ryan as he slams his glass and breaks it. Blood runs from his palms. "Oh, damn! That stings like hell!

"Are you hurt Ryan?" asks Eve with a worried look.

"Am I—Are you blind?" scoffs Ryan. He takes his cloth and wipes the blood from his hand. He has an unwarranted change of mood, and calmly continues: "Just tell me why you're gonna let him get away with that."

Eve continues nervously, "It is not an abuse of power. He has an excuse, we cannot trust you."

With a cunning face, "Is this about the plasma incident?"

Relieved, Eve falls for his trick, "Yes Ryan. This is about the plasma incident. That cost the lives of innocent men. You knew the risks, but you did not care for their safety."

"Uh...That reason is not very concrete," Ryan widens his eyes, "how does it have to do anything with me being kept from seeing dirty bastards dig for treasure?" He brushes his white slick hair. "But keep em' coming. What else Eve?

Feeling rather stupid for following his games, Eve figures she can silence him if she complies. "Very well. Your tendency of not reporting discoveries to us."

"But all I'm asking is to watch his team dig out the thing I—well me and Jerry found. I won't get to touch it."

"You are unpredictable Ryan. We do not know if you are planning something."

"That's it. That's your excuse?" says the arrogant man, "you're a bastard Eve. You really are a bastard."

Eve tries changing the subject: "You do not care for others Ryan. The plasma incident is valid proof. Why should I do the same for you?"

Ryan snickers, "trying to change the subject, huh? Ah, what the hell! I'll go with it!"

He slams his hands on his desk and pushes himself up from his red leather seat. Now he casually walks over to his cabinet and takes out another glass walks. Eve waits for him to return to the camera. He reappears.

"First of all, you try to make me look like a callous monster that only lives for himself, yet you forget that I helped your little empire rise to where it is now. Where would the humans and robots be without me today? He takes out a Styrofoam box from under his desk and takes out a burger. He wolfs it down and looks at Eve, chewing like a pig and pointing with one finger, "I'm the one that created the plasma armor your soldiers so proudly wear, I'm the one who gave a damn when the robot virus spread like a wildfire, I'm the one who helped to restore your piece of garbage husband , and I'm the one who-"

"Ryan!" Eve stops him, feeling offended, "you have changed for the worse since then. You did many good things before, but now you-"

"Second of all," Ryan interrupts, "you should care, Eve, because you're better than me. The great and powerful Eve cares for all. All hail the mighty Eve!" He starts to mock vow.

Eve is silent. She shrugs in discomfort. She truly feels like ending this conversation.

"Ryan, please do not say that. I do not like to be praised in such manners."

The childish man can't help but laugh uncontrollably. Eve becomes angry, but squeezes the plastic armrest until it compresses. She will not give him the satisfaction.

"Oh yes, your anti-worship thing," chuckles Ryan and wipes a tear, "but like I was saying. Caring for everybody is good Eve. You don't like me, but you should still care for me." Ryan drops an ice cube in his glass. With a serious face, he takes out his bottle of scotch and pours more into the glass. He swirls the scotch in front of Eve, an offense of what humans have to relieve themselves from their problems.

"Are we going to talk about your past," Eve asserts, "or about your complaint?"

"My complaint," frowns Ryan, for he wants to keep pestering her, "Are you gonna let me go?"

"Trent's decision is final, Ryan. Do not argue with me."

"Right. Okay Eve, you win," responds Ryan with avidity, taking a sip from his beverage to wash down the bits of meat on his tongue, "but tell me, are you making your decision because it's the right one, or does it have to do something with my, you know, proposal?" He winks at her.

Eve widens her eyes in shock, she "blushes." She thought Ryan and her were all past that.

The men snicker from a distance, trying to listen in on the conversation. Like Wall-e, they quickly forget the not-so-long past.

"Smoochie!" blurts out one of them. Eve notices and clumsily tries to lower the monitor's volume. She whispers to Ryan: "Do not bring that up!"

Ryan smiles, inhaling and exhaling after chugging down the last of the alcohol in his glass. "Don't tear yourself up kid. I was going to say you didn't like me because of my impotency, but their laughs will do. I had my fun." He pats his neck with his bloody cloth. "By the way, did you ever tell him?"

Eve looks at him with an angry face. "That does not concern you."

"Come on, tell me!" says Ryan as he now sips scotch out of the bottle, "Surely Wall-e had to know. All right look, if you tell me I promise to stop."

"It was not necessary...to tell him." She hopes he ends now.

"Right, not necessary." Ryan begins to cough and wheeze until mucus shoots out of his mouth and splatters into the monitor. Now his face appears a dark green with chunks of meat coated in yellow impurity.

With a disgusted look, "More questions, Ryan?"

"Let me think—no!" says Ryan, trying not to appear embarrassed. He wipes the phlegm off the screen with his blood-sweat covered cloth and eats the last burger morsel.

"Good. I am ending this call-"

"Wait! Just one more thing," Ryan interrupts, coughing and chugging down more scotch, some of it drips down his neck and stains his nice suit. "Just give me a moment."

Eve taps her fingers on the damaged armrest. "Yes?"

Ryan slams the bottle to the ground. His eyes become pale. "Okay, here it is, 'Eve, you're a heartless whore with a heart of metal and you should be ashamed of letting an injustice like Trent's slip through. Now go tell than son of a bitch he can kiss my-'"

*CRASH*

Eve's fist shatters the monitor. Yellow sparks of electricity and shards of glass damage her hand. Black smoke rises out from the hollow machine. The men hurry to her seat. They see the white probe breathe irregularly with an infuriated look; her hand lightly burned and scratched.

"Ma'am are you-"

"Leave!" Eve screams and rises from her seat. The men jump and then run to the last row of seats to keep their distance. They have their hands in their holsters.

Eve calms down and closes her eyes. She looks out the window and stares at the cities below. There seems to be peace now. No robots or humans fighting. Maybe the reason being is that they are empty like ghost towns. She lets the little anger in her pass away and be replaced by a biting remorse. Feeling guilty for roaring at her men, she gets up and hovers over to the men. They are packed together in the corner seats, looking at Eve like scared children. "Men," says Eve in a sad voice, "please forgive me. I should not take out my anger on you. You were complying with your assignments, and I am grateful for that."

They look at her; two of them smile. Still unsure, they keep their distance.

"Am I forgiven?" asks Eve, now in a happy voice, smiling gleefully and extending her hand to the man being pushed to the front of the group.

"Forgiven?" Eve asks gladly.

"Yes, ma'am," he reluctantly takes her white and cold hand with his sweaty and jittery hand.

Eve gives them a quick smirk and heads back to her seat. She feels relieved for apologizing. Guilt is not good for a loving creature such as her.

"Ma'am," the man gets up and walks over to her, "may I tell you something?"

"Yes," smiles Eve, "what is it?"

"I would have done what you did too."

Eve looks at him, dazzled. She smiles with relief. "Thank you. I am glad to know I am not the only one."

Eve takes her seat and stares out the window. She notices the men have come sit closer to her. Now she feels like nothing happened. Not even Ryan could ruin her day. What a great feeling. But since this morning, this has not been her day.

She turns her head to the front and notices an odd growth seep out from the hollow monitor. A green liquid oozes out from its spikes. It is a sickening sight. Eve knows what is happening, so she tries to remain calm and ignore it. Her men appear normal; they continue to speak amongst each other. But the growth is still there. That's the only abnormality. Perhaps it is real. But if that's so, her men must be blind, for it begins to ooze out more and more of the liquid. The floor floods with the matter. It begins to crawl out and the spikes tear through the seat, making a horrendous scratch. The growth advances on Eve. She remains still. The vile abomination stops in midair and "stares" at her. It vacillates, splattering the walls and floor with the green slimy liquid. This is an auspicious time for Eve to— lose her mind.

"Ma'am!"

Eve is startled. She looks at the man, then turns to the front to see that the growth is gone. The seat is the same as she had left it; with a hole in it. No sight of the green stuff anywhere.

"I just wanted to say that—you look good today. But we should consider doing something about your hand."

Confused and still scared, Eve just goes with his seemingly sycophantic comment: "Thank you, um..." she tries to remember his name.

"Gerald, my name's Gerald," says him.

"Oh, thank you Gerald. When we get there."

The Motherload and armada go through a large underground tunnel and ascend to the clouds. As the clouds clear, there it is, the Colosseum. It is unbelievably huge, bigger than her home. Even the Axiom does not compare to its grandeur. Eve's ship hyper jumps again while the armada of choppers and dropships scatter. They have done their part. The Motherload passes by floating platforms that serve as landing pads and aerial security for the Colosseum, and by lesser ships patrolling the grounds from above. The ship reaches the edifice and descends to an opening where many ships exit in hordes.

* * *

**Colosseum Hangar Bay**

**64**

**Limited Access**

**Unauthorized Personnel Subject To Deadly Resistance**

The Motherload floats outside the hangar. The pilot of the ship contacts Colosseum Control to request permission to enter.

"_Colosseum control, this is the Motherload requesting access through hangar sixty four."_

Somewhere in the Colosseum is a blue circular room where many people and computers operate. They move around, all wearing headsets. A man sits in the middle and responds to the Motherload's pilot.

"_Understood Motherload, this is Colosseum control, maintain present velocity and stand by for further instructions." _

"_Roger Control."_

The doors open and reveal the vast hangar with no ships or choppers stationed. It is much larger than the hangar back at the Tower. Satellite dishes scanner the ship's and check the schematics for any irregularities and for other lesser things like core temperature and hull integrity.

"_This is Colosseum control, requesting immediate stand down of arms from hangar sixty four._

The automated turrets stop aiming at the Motherload and draw themselves away. Guards with rifles lay down their weapons and look at the gigantic ship slowly move inside, right above them. They feel the tremor boom through the hot and sandy air.

"_You are clear Motherload. Welcome."_

The soldiers surround the dropship as it slowly floats down. They are everywhere, from the ground to balconies high above, armed with rifles, sniper rifles, and even plasma cannons, like the one Eve usually wields. Some soldiers are armored robots intended to look like humans to fool intruders, but the saturating heat of the dropship beats down equally on all flesh and metal. They stand back while the ship finally drops itself. Engines whir as the panels hide away. The loud metallic clank it makes is heard throughout the hangar.

"_Roger Control. Colosseum Control, stand by for hangar sixty four lockdown."_

The hangar doors slowly close while men with snipers aim at it. Once the doors fully close, they stand down. The turrets draw out again.

The doors of the ship open. Eve and her men wait for the ramp to reach the ground, then they proceed. She hovers down the ramp accompanied by her men, who exchange vicious glances with the robot soldiers. Yes, even her secret service is corrupted by superiority. But her men feel pride for being able to protect and serve majesty like Eve. They walk down an assembly of soldiers and arrive to a transport-bot that waits to take them away. In a matter of seconds they are escorted out of the hangar and float through a white fluorescent tunnel. Eve's PDA suddenly rings. Her finger presses the buttons. It's a message from Ryan.

"Oh," sighs Eve. She looks at Gerald and hands him the device, "could you read what it says?"

He squints his eyes. "It says, 'Ass.'"

Now that Eve hears that word, she immediately swipes the PDA from his hand and throws it overboard. She has no means of communication, but at least Ryan won't be bothering her. Gerald looks at her startled. Since today she's been acting erratic, unlike herself.

"Don't worry ma'am," Gerald pats her back, "we'll get you a new one."

Eve gives him a quick smile. She remembers of the gift she was going to offer Trent, and she figures she might as well give it to Gerald since Trent is gone. She takes out a small green plastic bag from one of the compartments of the transport-bot. It contains apple segments. She opens it and gestures him to take it. Although he already had his breakfast, he takes it since it's a sign of her goodwill.

"I was going to offer the apples to Trent," says Eve with fingers crossed that hint her hopefulness for him to like them, "but he left before we arrived. I picked them from my garden."

"Well," grins Gerald as he bites the juicy crispy fruit and relishes it in his mouth, "it shows."

He offers some to the other men, but they refuse. They don't want to display their human nature in front of Eve, especially after the small incident. Yet they are hungry. As Gerald finishes the last of the segments and crumples the plastic bag, Eve turns to him: "Could you call Trent for me?"

"Absolutely ma'am." Gerald takes out his PDA and dials for Trent's number. It is required for all agents to have the numbers of personnel close to Eve. He hands it to her while the device waits for Trent to answer the call.

"_Hello?"_ asks a voice Eve knows.

"Trent?"

"_Eve!"_ exclaims Trent, who speaks in a loud voice due to the loud engine noise from the dropship, "_how are you? We're on our way to the rally point. It's really cold over here. I wonder how Ryan does it."_

Eve does not respond and stares at the transparent floor of the transport-bot. She abhors that name.

"_Eve?"_

"Oh, sorry," continues Eve, "I just had a small argument with him."

"_Let me guess, the child was asking for his toy."_

Eve giggles, "yes, he did. I have already told him he will not be seeing it. I hope he does not give you any problems."

"_Don't worry about me,"_ Trent reassures, "_If I have to I'll make him stand out in the cold while I'm in his crummy office. Ah, that reminds me, do you think we should keep that from him?"_

"I believe he already knows."

"_Unfortunate."_

Eve pauses for a moment and turns to Gerald. "How much longer?"

Gerald looks at his watch/radar, which tells him where he is in the Colosseum, "about five minutes."

"Thank you." Eve turns the other way and continues with Trent: "I have one more thing to ask."

"_Yes Eve?"_

"Will robots give you or your men any trouble?"

"_Why would you ask that?"_ responds Trent with curiosity.

"I am sorry," says Eve in shame, "it is a foolish question-"

"_No—don't worry about it! I don't think my robot crew, which has stood by my side for fifteen years, will give me any trouble. But why did you ask?"_

"It's just—oh, forget it."

"_Eve,"_ says Trent with concern, "_there's something wrong, isn't there?"_ He pauses and takes a deep breath, "_if you're having any problems, don't hesitate to tell me. I'm here for you, all right?"_

"Yes, I know."

"_Trent, sir! we're here!"_

Loud noises from machines and cranes block Trent's speech.

"_That's the pilot Eve! I'm here already, and it looks like the team is already doing the digging!They are loud! I have to go now!"_

"Yes Trent," Eve looks ahead of the tunnel, "take care."

"_Yes, I'll call you if we find anything interesting. I really hope we do—damn, Bye!"_

"Good bye."

Eve sighs in relief. She did not really feel like telling Trent what was wrong. It's disturbing, yes, but if she has handled bigger tasks before, then she can certainly handle this herself. She returns Gerald his PDA and hovers to the front of the transport-bot to get a closer look at what lies ahead, which is not very different or interesting from what they've passed.

At this point the transport-bot comes to a stop in a small terminal guarded by Stewards and men in armored suits. The terminal is small and barricaded, but it is protected by an energy shield. The shield is turned off so that Eve and her men may step out and do what they've been doing for many years. The 12 Stewards are lined up in front of the terminal while the armed guards stand behind a metal detector and an X-ray machine. Beyond that is a small elevator that will take them to their final stop. After they step out, the transport-bot floats away and the energy shield is regenerated.

"Six hundred years and you still conform to this?" asks Gerald with sarcasm. It is surprising how little security there is for someone like Eve.

"Well, you know it is for safety reasons."

The men lay down their weapons on a small tray, then they pass through the metal detector. The lights blink green. Gerald does the same. Green lights blink again. Eve removes her arm and hands it to one of the guards. He plays around and aims at the tunnel with it. Of course, Eve won't be going through the metal detector, but the X-ray machine. It is not very big, about 15 feet in distance. A fat security man in a white shirt is in charge of operating the contraption.

"Step in ma'am," says the security guard. She simply passes through and a female voice reports the status:

**Scanning process started...Scanning process complete. No traces of plasma or weapon ballistics. Threat levels, 0. Thank you. Have a nice day.**

"All right ma'am, you're good to go." He can't take his eyes off the thing inside Eve until she and her men disappear into the elevator.

Inside, Gerald takes out a small brown package.

"Sorry," he hands her a black Trensur model 5 PDA, "it's not your color."

"It will do," Eve looks at him surprised, "but where did you get it?"

"I got it from one of the soldiers right now. He said he didn't need it."

*DING*

The elevator comes to a stop. It did not feel like much time passed, but they are really at a high point in the Colosseum; the elevator blinks a number 800. The aluminum doors open and the men make way for Eve. A gold plated door is right ahead, about 20 meters. The corridor is very narrow, but there is enough room for the Stewards, who are aligned from the elevator on down to the door, and an automated machine gun hangs and rotates above the door. Now security doesn't seem so poor in this tight area.

Eve floats out and turns to Gerald. "Well," she looks at him with a grin, "once again, thank you."

"It's my job ma'am." nods Gerald with respect.

"Oh, but you know what I mean," smiles Eve, "take good care of Wall-e."

"I will. Thank you for the apples—oh, sorry for laughing at you."

The elevator doors close in front of Eve. Her men disappear before her eyes. After a moments pause, she turns around and hovers to the gold door. The Stewards float motionless as Eve passes by; they are as dull as their predecessors. Not much for them to do. Eve reaches the door, and immediately a small red beam appears on her; it's the machine gun scanning her. It aims its 5 barrels at her, but after it confirms her identity, it stops aiming and goes back to rotating. Now she can access the door's keypad to input her code. Suddenly she begins to feel nervous, for this is a perfect time for the hallucinations return. The tip of her hand turns into fingers that quickly press the numbers. As she pushes the numbers, she begins to see it again. Some boiling organic matter seeps out from the walls and starts to flood the hallway. Anxiety overcomes her as she hurries in desperation. Perhaps she thinks this is the price for the sunset and moon.

**Access Denied, Invalid Code**

A male computer voice bursts this command out. Once more, Eve hurries and inputs her code, but seeing the organic matter begin to grow into a large mass and secrete a vapor into the air is just too much for her to ignore.

**Access Denied, Invalid Code**

Eve staggers. If she were human, it would be for a breath of air. She pushes herself to input the correct passcode. The mass begins to grow uncontrollably and spreads slowly towards her. The Stewards float still. She is angry the Stewards are not doing anything. Why are they just standing still? It looks too real to be false, too detailed. Regardless if it's real or false, the mass looks like a shadow that spreads fear to the poor souls. Its darkness overcomes the Stewards, covering them with the abhorrent monstrosity. The black center of the mass begins to suckle and fluctuate. It makes a gushy noise. Eve turns around and hurries to input the correct passcode.

**Access Denied, please wait 60 seconds.**

The nightmare has begun. She cannot escape this reality. She will have to face the horror that has been disturbing her just today, but feels like it has been lingering on her mind for an eternity. She presses her body against the door as the mass crawls closer and closer. Soon enough, the abomination rubs itself against her face, smearing her with its vile residue, like an affectionate Wall-e. She begins to panic, the fear runs through her like a virus, and spreads to her mind, that makes her believe it will never end. The feeling bites her; the morbid thing presses closer. Nothing can describe the hell it has wrought to Eve. Hopeless, she closes her eyes and blindly reaches for the keypad, inputs a random code, and waits for the worse.

* * *

**Access Granted, Welcome Eve.**

The door opens and slides against her smooth back. A beam of light shines from behind. She turns around in relief. She sees it is a beautiful heaven. It's as if she died and was reborn. In front of her is a massive open space where everything is silver and gray, and the bright light that shines from the sky illuminates the colossal room, and specks of dust flutter on her sparkling blue eyes like white embers. The aesthetic is like the lost relics that never were. She hovers on a large and wide circular platform suspended from thousands of feet, and below lies green darkness. In front of her sit men and women of old age who are dressed in white robes. They sit in a round table. Behind them there is a special platform. It is situated above the first one, and it's smaller, but the view is much better from there. Glass stairs connect the two, like Eve and the council's wisdom. Or better yet, like the love of her life. If one listens closely, they can hear the chant of angels.

"Eve," says one of them, and old man, his voice echoes throughout, "you're late."

Eve is still horrified from the incident, but she hovers to them and takes a seat in the front. There is work to be done. They stare at her as she tries to relax. Her blue eyes flicker rapidly.

"Can we proceed Eve?"

"Oh," Eve opens her eyes, "yes councilman Joseph. Forgive me for my tardiness."

"Very well." Councilman Joseph rises from his seat and stands in front of the rest of the council.

"As we all know, the current situation with robots and humans is not, how you say, stable. Both are in more disunity than ever," Joseph changes his tone, "every day for the last five years there have been more casualties from both sides than in one thousand years since our forefathers set foot back on this Earth. This is unacceptable! We have to act now before things get out of hand. We risk civil war people, and we don't want that. Many of the warmongers are our own fellow humans. Why even right now, outside these walls, they protest against Eve's rule. Come, let's observe."

Eve and the council rise from their seats and walk to the north side of the platform. Now they see it: Thousands of humans march outside the Colosseum. Armed soldiers and Riot Stewards keep them behind the lines. Many carry banners that defile Eve and robots. Angry animals they are. Some of the humans spit on the Stewards. Choppers and dropships fly around to check for any armed protesters. Suddenly the humans begin to push on through, but the Stewards won't let them pass. Things are getting out of control.

"Look at that," says Joseph, pointing to the events that unfold below, "this is exactly what I meant." The council stare in disappointment. Eve stares in sadness.

"What now?" asks one of the councilwomen.

"Riot Control troops are ready to move in and prevent any tragedy from happening," Joseph looks at Eve, "but our leader has the final call."

Eve continues to look down at the humans. Some are now being electrified by the Stewards. To her heartbreak, she sees children stand outside the violent masses. They look at the violence, with fear and sadness. A small child stands next to a fallen woman, possibly its mother.

"Eve," barges Joseph, "make the right call."

Eve looks at the man. He seems to be unaware of the real victims. "Do not send them in."

"But," responds Joseph, somewhat unsurprised by her choice, "we have already tried to reason with them. They're dogs."

"But if we respond with brute force, how will we set an example?"

"Those animals want to see you out of power. They hate you as much as they hate us."

Joseph looks at the rest of the council, who either keep their heads down or stare at the violence below. The oldest of them decides to step in, his voice is rugged like his face: "Joseph, I believe I speak for everyone when I say that those brutes deserve to be punished for their atrocities, but we must give them a second chance. Like our leader said, how will we set an example?

"We must make an example out of them to set an example. Otherwise they will continue to fight. We will only be giving them warnings without action."

"What about the children?" asks Eve.

"We make an example out of them for the children. The children will know better. This generation will not be fixed, but if we can slow down the virus, then we prevent the next generation from becoming like them."

"But what if the children only resent us for it?" asks the councilwoman, "it's just an endless cycle."

"This is another problem people. We never come to an agreement with these types of issues."

To their disgust, they see a man fried by two Stewards. He carried a firebomb, which he dropped and set him on fire. They decide they've seen enough, so the wise men and women return to their seats and continue their discussions there.

Suddenly Eve's PDA rings. The council once again stares with contempt. It's not ethical to receive calls during meetings. She looks at the caller number. It's Gerald.

"Excuse me," Eve hovers away to her platform. "Hello?"

"Eve, this is Gerald. I got a call from Trent. He says it's urgent. Here, I'm transferring the call to you."

"Thank you Gerald." Eve turns around to see the council; they wait, some impatiently. Her PDA rings again. "Yes?"

"Eve, it's me Trent. How are you?"

"I'm fine," mutters Eve, "I was in the middle of the meeting."

"Oh, sorry. I hope I didn't interrupt anything, but this is really important Eve. You are not gonna believe this."

"Well, come out with it."

"Well, it turns out my team found something not as 'big' as we expected, but we think it may just be the most valuable artifact we've ever found," he pauses and exhales, "It may just be the equivalent of the plant that Wall-e had found. Well, probably not as important, but, you know..."

Eve is very eager to know, "tell me!"

"The artifact my team found," Trent pauses once more, "is a video tape from 2110."

Eve cannot believe her ears. This is not something she's used to hearing every day.

"Oh my!" Eve jumps with jubilation, "wait, does it still function?

"It does now. My team repaired it."

What does it reveal?"

That's what we're about to find out ma'am," Trent pauses again, "I really think you should get over here and watch it with us."

Eve pauses. She looks back at the council, then turns herself around.

"Trent, I'd love to, but I have a job to fulfill."

"But Eve, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!" exclaims Trent eagerly, "do you have any idea what some would do just to see the cassette—Look, I can keep Ryan as far away as mars, just get over here!

"But Trent, it is just that, well..." Eve stops and quietly ascends to get a view of the rioters.

"Yes?"

"This is not about Ryan. It is about them. I cannot leave them here. I am needed."

"Whom? The council?

"No."

"Oh, you mean the rioters? Yeah Gerald just told me about that," Trent sweeps Ryan's broken scotch bottle, "well, what can I say? Let your council handle the case. You really should be flexible with your desire to help."

"I cannot do that. They need me."

"I don't think-"

"I don't need your approval!" interrupts Eve. The council turn to her; they stare. Her face expresses the embarrassment of making a scene.

"Trent, please forgive me. You know I do not mean that."

"Yes," whimpers Trent, "don't worry about it. I'll call you when we're finished."

"Yes," whispers Eve, "I am so sorry." Trent hangs up before she gets to apologize.

The council impatiently waits for Eve to return, who by this time sits alone in her chair. Joseph notices and walks over to her. He feels he needs to find out what is bothering Eve rather than have a quarrel with her.

With sad eyes, Eve turns to him. "What is it councilman Joseph?" Her human-like voice is sad.

"We're waiting for you." He tries to get her to look at him. "What happened?"

"It's Trent," says Eve. She still does not turn to him. "They found something."

"Well dear child!" exclaims Joseph with an surprised face, "what did they find?"

"A videotape," Eve turns and looks at him with a forced joy, "from 2110. The year Operation Recolonize failed."

"Really?!" He takes her hands now that he is filled with joy, "You must go and see it!"

Eve's face turns serious, "no, I am staying here. Trent can show me the tape later. Besides, it may have no answers regarding the failed operation."

"But..." he lets go of her hands, "I don't understand Eve. Why don't you want to go?"

"Look outside Joseph. One thousand years later, and we still have these problems. Surely I am needed to sort this out."

"But Eve," complains Joseph, "we can handle this. You should consider taking a break once in a while."

"No rest for me. It's something I must resolve. I need to better understand them." She turns around again, "besides, I will not let you respond with force."

"Eve," Joseph kneels down next to her, "they are ignorant. You don't need to prove yourself to them. If they had been born during Reconstruction, then they would have seen the great things you did for everybody. You led our forefathers through reconstruction and to a better world," he pauses, "and like I already told you, we cannot reason with them. About two hours ago we offered them a chance to leave, but they only got more violent."

"Better world?"

"Oh, by better world I meant a clean earth and advanced technologies."

"But I am talking about the inhabitants."

"Well then that is different. But what do you want to help them with?"

"I just feel that I should better understand their demands."

"You have been a good leader. You still surprise me Eve. I've studied you my entire life, yet there's more to you than books record. But all they want—they, what they want is to take your power and give it to a smart animal. That's what they demand, you know, power from you and to one of their zealots. Things like these make me feel ashamed of being a human."

"What?" says Eve confused.

"Think about it Eve. Humans have come so far. We are very intelligent and capable of great things, look at our cities, even look at yourselves, robots. But our primitive nature makes us...well, human. You've seen how promiscuous some of us are. You've seen how violent we are—why—even the protest outside right now is proof! Sometimes we even mix intellect and primitive instinct, but mostly for the sake of gratification or selfish gain."

"But," Eve stutters without knowing what to say, "that is not how I see humans as."

"Eve, you have to realize that not all humans will be the intelligent and competent and loving beings that were your creators. Not everybody will like you. Those bastards out there are just filled with Ryan's ideology. You can't help everybody. There will always be fights and differences among humans and robots—but we should keep them under acceptable levels," Joseph struggles to get up, "now do what you want. Miss out on the discovery of a lifetime while you try to help the hopeless. It's your loss," He pats her, his long robe brushes on her neck, "forgive me if I have offended you."

Eve is dumbfounded. She decides to bring up a new point: "But my fellow robots should learn to control themselves. Many have lived through the Earth Renaissance. They should be wise and teach humans. Instead they let anger get to them. They lower themselves."

"Eve," chuckles Joseph, "not all robots will be wise and compassionate like you either. I thought you figured that out by now."

Joseph walks away and takes his seat with the council. Eve continues to sit in her platform and stares at her reflection on the glossy floor, struck by Joseph's words. Could he be right? Is she trying too hard to appease the implacable? She does not feel anger towards him. He is a wise man, unlike Ryan. But one thing's certain, he is right when he says that all they want is her power. But she tries to ignore his views on humans. Whatever the problems are, she just feels utterly useless for not being able to compromise with them.

Eve's decision is final, and that is that. If she can't reach an agreement with the rioters, then she will punish them, something not new to her, and hopefully she will get to see the videotape later. She hovers back to the council to continue with the meeting.

"Okay," Eve looks at them as a large spiked growth sprouts from below the abyss; this time she acquiesces to the monstrosity, "let us continue."

* * *

About 3,000 miles from the Colosseum, Trent is in the frozen wastelands of Alaska, inside Ryan's office. He is ready to see the videotape, along with his fifteen staff members. The sound of machines excavating outside is audible. They continue digging to find any more valuable artifacts, like the tape. As always, the humans keep away from the robots, for both are not very cooperative with one another. At least they're not fighting and are working hard.

Trent and his staff are all set to see the possible wonder of 2110. They are all eager, even Trent, who just recently had the small fight with Eve. Like she ordered him, Ryan will not get to watch the videotape. Instead he will spend the time in the storage warehouse with his men. As Trent gets all set to see the lost answers, Ryan is with Jerry and their associates inside the cold and moderately unkempt warehouse, playing a game of poker. Or at least, that's what they appear to be doing.

"All right," Trent stands and waves for everybody to quiet down, "Is everything ready?"

One of his staff members stands in the middle of the circular room, right in front of the projector screen. "Yes sir," says the chubby man wearing a white coat, "everything is set. It will start in a few seconds."

Trent shakes with anticipation. He can't wait to see what hidden wonders will be discovered. The doors of the office are closed and the lights are turned down. Men and women in white lab coats scurry around, eager as well, and hurry to take a seat. Trent takes out a small recorder.

"This is Trent Hodges, General scientist, date is June 26, 4415. My staff and I are about to watch a videotape discovered in Area 35, which we have learned is from 2110, the year Operation Recolonize was canceled, which lead humans and robots to live for seven hundred years in the starliner known as the Axiom," The screen buzzes, the tape is about to play, "we will view it and later analyze its content, we are all very anxious to see it."

The man starts countdown:

"It begins in **3**, **2**, **1**..."

**A/N: The next chapter is critical to understanding the rest of the story. Oh, you've no idea how big this is going to get. **


	5. Chapter 4: Revelation

**A/N: Sorry for the absence, but I had a few things to do. Now we finally will discover what the tape holds. So without further delay...**

* * *

Chapter 4

Revelation

The tape plays...

**[2110.11.04 .6.32.5:52:56 L]**

**BnL Special Operations 22nd Unit **

**Confidential Intelligence**

**Authorized Eyes Only**

**Op. Samuel Johnson Hassan**

**November 4, 2110. 0600 Hrs. **

(Static)

*BEEP*

(Static)

*BEEP*

**Play **

"...hurry!"

A bald man appears running in front of the camera. He is sighted by what seems to be a flashlight attached to a rifle being carried by the cameraman. They run in a pitch-black space that is more tenebrous and sullen than a vacant graveyard. No life, no light, no certainty. Out of nowhere a man and a woman appear from behind the camera's view and run ahead to the bald man. All 3 are armored and armed with rifles that have flashlights fitted on them. Everywhere the lights flash, there is destruction. Shattered computers and glass, destroyed cargo vehicles, the corpses of the fallen and the innocent; blood on the walls and ceiling.

The two men and the woman have stopped in front of a large door that beeps and flickers without pause. The 3 wait for the cameraman, who is trying to hurry and get to them. He pants and tremors with every step on the ground. Then he makes it.

The bald man heaves and wipes sweat from his forehead. "That thing working Sam?"

"Yes Sarge." Sam nods with the camera.

"All right," Sarge lays down his weapon and hacks, "let's debrief."

Sam points the camera's vague white light on Sarge's face. The blood behind Sarge glistens as it is lighted. The other man and the woman stand next to him. No noise in this dark underworld, except Sam, who is still breathing for air after the long run.

"This is Sergeant McKelly, BnL Alaskan Division, 22nd unit." He pauses and looks away from the camera, then continues. "Approximately twelve hours ago the Delta complex was locked down after gunshots in the excavation area were heard. Then something attacked the Delta personnel. We believe it was a terrorist assault, but we're not certain. Everything went FUBAR. As of now we're en route to other survivors the tracer picked up. We are documenting the mission in case we don't make it." He sniffs and wipes his teary eyes with his thumb. "Let's move."

* * *

**[ERROR** **405#1]**

**[DAMAGE TO INTERFACE** 84234-333 **UNKNOWN REGISTRY]**

**[ATTEMPTING NEXT UNDAMAGED SEQUENCE]**

**[LOADING**...]

**[FFW]**

**[PLAY]**

"...make it. Stay close." The group advances in a large sewer-like tunnel. It is dead and haunted by the lost lives of innocent men, by the lost hope that echoes its last sullen remnants that once were the fanfaronade of the hopeful, by the monstrosity of the enemy. How brave they are to continue in this abyss, for no living thing should be saturated with this uncertainty of paranormal obscurity.

"We're heading to the cargo elevator just a few yards from here. Nothing works in the Delta without power. Everything from dormitories to laboratories has been hit by whatever attacked." Sarge keeps his rifle aimed at the unknown. "So we're hoping to find a way to restore power to the elevator once we get there, and if that doesn't work, then we'll have to wait out the situation." Sarge stops and turns to the man and woman. "Rob! Amanda! Keep going and we'll catch up to you. I need to get something off my chest right now."

"Yes Sarge." Rob drags ahead into the dark and Amanda follows. Once they disappear into the shadows, Sarge begins.

"It's still working, right Sam?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay." Sarge wipes his wet face and looks into the camera. "The objective of this Delta facility was to bury Earth's waste into its core. Garbage came in and never went out. But about a year ago the researchers picked up a life signal straight below 2 miles. I shouldn't be saying this, it's classified, but it has backfired."

"What?" Sam asks in shock, trying to stifle his voice.

"Just keep filming son." Sarge's eye twitches as he gazes at the blackness around him. "Then an expedition team was sent to collect specimens of the life force. The organism itself is unlike anything we've ever encountered. It was discovered to have properties of decomposition beyond our human understanding. It could eat away waste like metal and plastic, so we planned on using it to speed up Operation Recolonize. The organism's value is beyond what money can buy, especially in times like these. So the team left and we waited. We hoped they would return in the next two days, but we never saw them again. Since then rescue teams were being sent to locate any signs of their possible survival, but nothing was found. Shelby was informed of the dangers of this underground, but he still wanted to keep searching. But still nothing. As for the current events, this may have been a terrorist attack, because the organism is very valuable. Whoever gets control of it gets control of the Earth. It's..."

* * *

**[ERROR 4535]**

**[DAMAGE TO INTERFACE]**

**[ATTEMPTING RECOVERY... SUCCESSFUL]**

**[LOADING...]**

**[FFW]**

**[PLAY]**

"How do we get this thing working?" Rob and Sarge stand in the middle of the cargo elevator. Dim yellow light flickers from the motion-operated neon light above. Empty trucks and supply boxes are scattered around this enormous machine. No battles seem to have taken place here. The metal's oxidation makes the elevator a hazardous medium of transport, but with the current situation, this is a risk they must take.

Sam looks down and up to find any signs of a backup generator. "There ain't no way we getting down now." Although he sounds disillusioned, he is really glad this is as far as they have to go.

Sarge signals everyone to assemble. "Amanda, keep the entrance guarded. And Rob, find a way to get this thing powered." Amanda draws her rifle from behind her back and walks to the entrance of the elevator while Rob goes into the dark corner of the elevator. "Sarge! It's like trying to find a damn needle in the snow."

"Follow orders soldier."

Rob mumbles under his breath. "Yeah, easier said than done."

Sam and Sarge stand in the light of the lamp. "They were nice enough to send the elevator back, right Sarge?"

"Yes." Sarge forces his response, looking down with an emotionless face.

A few seconds fly by before Sam has the will to tell Sarge how he now feels about him, and about his trust for him. "I just can't believe the things you said." Sam whispers to avoid intrusion from Rob.

"Believe them." Sarge looks at Sam and grins, but with eyes of guilt.

The elevator's lights suddenly switch on and the mechanisms whir loud like the dying cries of a behemoth animal. Everybody is caught by surprise.

"How the hell?" Sam stutters and nearly drops the camera. "How did you do that Rob?"

Rob stumbles on the metallic floor as the elevator rumbles. "I didn't do anything!"

Amanda runs back to the group and Sarge looks around for whatever returned power. Then the alarms wail and the doors begin to close.

"Let's get out now!" Rob and Sam dash for the exit, but as the elevator shakes more and more, a large pipe falls from above and nearly crushes them both. Sam falls back.

"Holy hell!" The pipe has blocked their path. There is no getting out now. They will have to either face this enemy with courage, or they will die cowards.

Sarge and Amanda stay in the epicenter of the elevator as metal and debris rains down with a chance of death. "Get back!"

Rob and Sam run back while covering their heads from the sharp metal fragments that zoom around after impacting the floor. Trucks are crushed by large chunks of earth and stone. Everybody falls down.

"We're gonna die!" Rob seems to cry but covers his head.

"Stay down!" Sarge and Amanda try to keep calm. Surprisingly, Sam tries too.

The ceiling continues to crumble and fail. If this keeps going then the weight will be too much for the elevator wires to sustain. They will fall to certain doom. Sam keeps looking at Rob to see how he's holding up. Not so calm.

"AHHHH!" Rob screams in horrendous pain. A large rock has crushed his leg. The tibia sticks out from his flesh and blood squirts out; he goes into shock.

"Damn! Hold still!" Amanda tries to tie a tourniquet on his knee, but he keeps squirming.

"Sarge! Now what?!"

The elevator's wires give in to the sheer weight. They free fall into the abyss as the elevator explodes from the damages. They are in a flaming ride to hell.

"Oh God! Please No!"

* * *

**[ERROR 4535] **

**[DAMAGE TO INTERFACE]**

**[ATTEMPTING RECOVERY... SUCCESSFUL]**

**[LOADING...]**

**[FFW]**

**[PLAY]**

"Get me more morphine." Sam asks in a weak voice. The team survived.

"God, cover him up." Sam points Amanda to a corpse. It's Rob. He didn't survive the impact. To fall thousands of feet down with a crushed leg was too much for him to survive. For anybody to endure.

"Poor Rob." Amanda's eyes shed tears as she laments his death, even as the smoke and fire continue to ascend from the destruction. The elevator is nothing more but broken shards of burnt metal. The rocks litter the cavern with their presence. Rob's body is seriously mangled, an utter waste. Sam turns the camera's view to Sarge, who holds the broken pieces of the tracer. Rob had it with him when they fell. Now they will have to continue the mission without the guarantee of the other team's survival. They will have to walk in darkness. The thought of human beings doing this is unbelievable.

"Hello...pick up? Someone....up!" The three survivors are startled by the voice. They are quick to pick up their weapons and look around. It came from nowhere. "Please...pick up!" Soon they discover a machine behind one of the stalagmites. A large radar sits on top and lights and buttons cover the machine. "Someone? Anyone?" This is the source of the voice.

"Yes? Hello?" Sarge presses the microphone's button and answers. Sam and Amanda stand around him but keep their eyes open for any unusual phenomenons.

"Who is this?" The voice asks in agitation.

"This is sergeant McKelly, 22nd unit of the Alaskan-"

"Sergeant!" The voice stops and the person on the other side of the line inhales. "This is Shelby Forthright."

"Mr. Forthright?! Why- How did you get through?"

"I've been waiting for hours for someone to answer."

"Mr. Forthright, I'm not sure if you're aware of the current situation over here-"

"Yes. I know what happened sergeant." Forthright laments. "Things got messy, didn't they?"

"Yes sir."

"Are there any other survivors with you?"

"Yes, two. We've just lost one. Sir, this place is a deathtrap. We're trying to reach another group-"

"Sergeant! Slow down! How did your man die?"

"We were going to rendezvous with the group, but when we got to the cargo elevator, it fell."

Forthright sighs in worry. This is too much for him. After all, Operation Recolonize is in effect as of now. "Sergeant. I'm very sorry for your loss right now. I didn't think you were that deep underground. I know this is too much for me to ask, but you know what you need to do."

"Yes Mr. Forthright, I am aware of the protocols."

Sam barges in. "What protocols?"

"Quiet Sam!" Sarge does not want Sam to expose the truth to Amanda, at least, not now. "We need to keep going and find the others." He respires. Not because he is tired, but because he knows the grave danger that lies ahead. "Mr. Forthright, it's been an honor."

"No sergeant. I am honored to have worked with you." Forthright pauses for a moment of silence. "For Earth."

"For Earth."

Shelby Forthright terminates the call. Static is all that's left. Sam does not seem to take the wasted call well.

"Sarge! Why the hell didn't you ask for reinforcements?!"

Sarge picks up his rifle and takes out gas masks from his backpack. "Sam, you know damn well why."

"But this is suicide!"

"What the hell are you talking about Sarge?" Amanda breaks her persona of the brave and quiet one.

"Look." Sarge clips his rifle on the belt around his shoulder and pats the two on their arms. "This is suicide. You're right, we might as well die here in the cave. But for what we're going to help cause, it'll be worth losing our lives. We can help restore Earth and save lives. I'm sorry for not being fully sincere with you two, but you need to know..."

* * *

**[ERROR 4535] **

**[DAMAGE TO INTERFACE]**

**[ATTEMPTING RECOVERY... SUCCESSFUL]**

**[LOADING...]**

**[FFW]**

**[PLAY]**

A green dense fog fills the air with melancholy and an unbearable stench that would possibly kill living things. The three wield their rifles and wear the gas masks, which keeps them alive, and at the same time, impairs their periphery. The cavern is wide but does not stretch too far. The shine of a white light marks the exit, but this is not a simple walk over there. They must proceed slow and swiftly.

"If you see strange things hanging from the ceiling or walls, do not panic or shoot." Sarge takes the lead and puts himself at risk of whatever danger lies ahead. "They're harmless."

"You don't suppose that somehow those were the things that attacked the base in the first place?" Sam tries not to be left too behind. Amanda turns to him. "Things? This is all clearly a terrorist attack." If time would permit, they would argue, but time does not permit it, so they must not argue. Sarge stops walking. "We're here."

"Holy..." Sam is left speechless by the sight above him. An odd mass covers the ceiling and walls. The fog is much stronger now. The biomass fluctuates and makes a muffled sound of bone-crushing and flesh regurgitation.

"You mean to tell me that these things are going to save the Earth? Amanda stares in disbelief. How such repugnancy could be the hope of the world is beyond her understanding.

"Technically yes, but not these. There's fresher specimens outside this cavern. These aren't gonna last long."

"So we collect some of these, things, and we get to go."

"If the terrorists don't get in our way."

They continue their walk of doom and reach the exit of the cavern. The fog's absence makes it easier for them to see, but the ungodly smell remains. It seems the cavern is not what it appeared to be. The exit, or entrance of the cavern, is an open abyss, greater than the massiveness of any man-made ships or buildings. Green lights from miles afar illuminate the dark world. Colossal stalactites and stalagmites adorn the cavern, giving it the resemblance of sharp teeth of a deadly beast, hungry for its prey to come to it. As for the three brave soldiers, they need to slide down a steep hill to reach the unknown.

"Down there." Sarge lights up a flare and casts it down the hole. It hits ground in less than two seconds. "It's not too far down. We should be able to slide down. I'll go first. I'm the only one with the infrared scope."

Amanda and Sam stand clear while Sarge prepares for the slide down. "Here I go!"

"We'll cover you Sarge, just in case." The two keep their rifles targeted at the pit.

Sarge shuts his eyes and leans off the ledge. "Whoa!" A loud thud, which could mean he made it down dead or alive.

Sam seeks for Sarge in the oblivion of the darkness below. "Did you make it sir?! No answer. Sam and Amanda become concerned.

"Are you okay Sarge?!"

Silence again. It does not seem to make sense. The fall was not too high. But fear and anxiety are set ablaze in the two like a fire. They have a choice to make.

"I think he's hurt!" Amanda prepares to descend and aid Sarge.

"Are you crazy?" Sam strafes behind her while she wraps her rifle around her shoulder.

"He needs us! You're coming too!"

"I ain't going!"

Without warning, Amanda grabs Sam's leg and brings him down with her. They slide down the pit and they shriek like dying pigs. They fall next to Sarge, whom is very much alive.

"Sarge?" Amanda grabbles with her rifle's flashlight. Then out of nowhere, lights turn on.

"Damn it!" The sudden flash of lights hurts their eyes and knocks them down. Sarge remains on his feet and stares at the macabre sight. It is why he never responded.

"Oh god..." Sam gets on his knees and stares. Amanda rises and looks as well. It is a massacre. The pink biomass grasps countless men and soldiers in its foul clutches. The vacant eyes of dead men and their blood spilled, body organs seeping vital fluids, weapons lie on the blood and biomass flooded ground. It's not a cavern anymore, it's hell.

"Oh god!" Amanda gags in disgust. Nothing prepared them for this.

Sam and Sarge are paralyzed. No words they can speak can express their shock.

"You said this was a terrorist attack!" Amanda turns away from the gruesome spectacle.

Sarge stands in disbelief. "I...was wrong."

*Shrieks*

An unknown screech sweeps through the air and into the ears of the soldiers. The three regain focus and draw out their weapons. The screams came from above, so they move further down the biomass infested hell and aim upward.

"Get...out."

Sam turns over his shoulder and sees a soldier covered in the biomass; tentacles choking him and holding his arms and legs.

"They're...coming."

"What?" Sarge asks while struggling to get the soldier out of the tentacles. "What happened down here?!"

"Too late...go through the gate...get out...they're coming." The soldier's dying breath ends. Sarge hits the mass with his fist and lets out a roar of exasperation.

"Who's coming?" Sam asks panicked. Amanda advances ahead to see what shrieked. Suddenly...

"Oh god..." Amanda is struck by a sharp object; a tentacle. She stumbles with the object lodged inside her stomach and falls.

"Jesus!" Sam sprints to her, but suddenly she is torn to pieces by a creature.

"Damn it!" Sam discharges his weapon and showers the monster with lead. The creature takes a lot of bullets before giving in and roaring a sound of death. It resembles a human being, but as an vile abhorrence.

"Goddamn!" Sam realizes the monster wears armor and boots. It was a human, and it was much stronger.

"Get back!" Sarge spots more monsters and shoots those closer to Sam. They crawl above and charge at the two men. Soon enough it's a gunfight for survival. The monsters continue to charge. They are not afraid of death.

* * *

**[ERROR 4535]**

**[DAMAGE TO INTERFACE]**

**[ATTEMPTING RECOVERY... FAILED]**

**[ATTEMPTING SECOND RECOVERY...]**

**[ATTEMPTING...]**

**[SUCCESSFUL.]**

"This is crazy!" Sam leans down to get a better shot of the monsters. They shriek to scare and distract the two mortal men. "Oh god!"

"Keep right!"

"There's too many!"

"Open the gate!"

Sam dashes for the control panel of the gate and tries to find a way to open the structure. The abominations continue to rush against Sarge.

"How?!"

Sarge is nearly struck by a tentacle, but he dodges the attack and blasts the beast's face. "Input 1616 and press Save!"

Sam looks down on the keypad to keep focused, aware of the events unfolding right behind. He presses the buttons and the lights turn green. The massive plates of metal begin to separate and reveal the other side. The biomass has not touched the inside. But darkness is rife inside.

"Let's go Sarge!" Sam runs out of ammo. He draws out his sidearm and hopelessly shoots at the enemy. Sarge is out too.

"Get out of here John!"

"What?!" The monsters horde into a large group and charge. There is no way they'll survive this attack.

"Sarge!"

"Get out now!" Sarge aims his pistol at the emergency-shutdown button and fires. The metal begins to close. Sam has no choice but to hurry inside.

"No!"

Sarge looks at Sam one last time before being overwhelmed by the monsters. The gate closes and Sam is alone in the dark. The sole survivor.

"Oh god!" Sam lays down the camera and vomits in the vicinity. The nightmare and the horrors of what he has seen is overwhelming. He whimpers and cries like a scared child, tucked in a corner without anywhere to go. There is no hope, there is no escape. He will vanish in the shadows of the forgotten and the damned. What have they unleashed?

"Sarge..."

**[ERROR 790 IRRETRIEVABLE DATA]**

**[SURVEILLANCE HALTED]**

**[TERMINATED]**

**[LOADING...]**

**[STOP]**


	6. Chapter 5: Ascendancy

**Chapter 5**

**Ascendancy**

"Oh dear god..." Trent and his staff are astounded by what they've just witnessed. Shock of surprise overwhelms their minds.

"Sir?" The chubby man rises from his chair, still staring at the black screen.

"What is it?" Trent tries to get his thoughts and emotions organized.

"This tape, we need to get it to EVE as soon as possible."

"Yes." Trent realizes the immense value of the tape. It is imperative for him to get it to Eve and decide what to do from there on forward. "We need to get it to her." The staff members rise from their seats and run in all directions. Trent and the chubby man run up to Ryan's office and takes out the cassette from the VCR. "We can't risk a video message." He holds the cassette in his hand, aware who might want it. "I need to get this to Eve personally."

"Yes Mr. Hodges." The chubby man takes out his cellphone and runs out of the office. "I'll get the choppers ready."

Something troubles Trent. _Oh no_... Yes, it is the realization that the teams are making a big mistake. He ignores the staff members knocking on the glass door and dashes to Ryan's telephone to contact the excavation teams. His sweaty palms wet the phone and the dials. "Come on, pick up!"

"Yes?!" The leader of the expedition answers. The loud drilling and eager talk of the men can be heard.

Trent staggers, trying not to hyperventilate. "Have you come across a large underground gate?"

The leader is surprised. "How did you know?"

"Do not let your men go through!" By this time some of the members leave Trent alone and wait by the large window.

"But they already did. What's going on Mr. Hodges? Are you-"

Static buzzes in Trent's ear. The connection is lost. He desperately tries to contact the leader, but he does not answer.

"Everybody! Look!" One of the female scientists points outside the room's window. Everybody hurries to the window, stumbling with the desks and chairs blocking their path. Trent storms out of the office; he runs to the window and is the last one to get there. Everybody stares at what is happening outside now.

* * *

Hundreds of armed mercenaries march outside in military order. Humvees and tanks race out of the dome-shaped warehouses. The gate that separates the excavation area from the rest area shuts down, and armed sharpshooters take their positions from above. The emergency sirens mounted on the gate begin to wail. Farther where the hole is located, men and robots in NBC suits place firebombs around the hole.

Inside the office, everybody is baffled. Whatever is happening, it is not good. Without delay, Trent and his men put on their coats and run down the flight of stairs. Outside they are passed by more armed men and vehicles.

"Ryan!" Trent tries to call him while running in the bitter cold. He stumbles upon one of the captains of an unit.

"Captain! What the hell is going on?" The captain signals his men to hold position.

"Mr. Hodges, you need to get yourself some cover." More vehicles and men pass by. "Area 35 is under quarantine."

"What?!" Trent still tries to contact Ryan. "What happened?"

"The excavation team, they um, reported attacks of an unknown type of alien force."

"Alien force?"

"Yes. We heard screams after. Mister Rhinehart was informed and he dispatched-"

Below the earth a large growth sprouts and obliterates a nearby shed. Everybody is taken by surprise. All stumble to the snowy ground. The soldier try to reassemble and open fire as the growth ascends thousands of feet to the sky.

"Get out of here!" The captain aims his rifle at Trent and his staff.

"What are you doing?" Trent raises his arms in confusion.

"Sir, you've no idea what this thing is. We have orders to eliminate anyone who is uncooperative."

The chubby man approaches the captain with his hands in the air. "Captain, you're overreacting-"

Bullets tear through the fat man and immediately kill him. He falls to the snow stained in his blood. Trent and his men are horrified.

"I'm not going to say it again Mr. Hodges." The captain fires at the sky to scare away the men. "Get out!"

Trent and the staff find themselves running in a confusing situation. They pass by more soldiers and tanks. The sirens wail louder as they approach the gate. Then they hear the shocking announcement.

_"**Code Red. Area 35 is under Code Red. All containment personnel report to sector 5y. Do not make any attempts to leave the area. Thank you for your cooperation."**_

Trent stops running and looks at the incidents behind. Creatures crawl out of the hole as the NBC soldiers shower them with fire. The gigantic tentacles begin to spin and make noises.

"Fire!" The infantry and the tanks open fire on the large tentacles. Green blood and chunks fly everywhere, but the tentacles stand firm and regenerate their lost limbs, thus rendering themselves unscathed.

His men notice Trent standing alone and run back to him. They soon realize what is happening.

"What are they doing?" One of the men asks.

"I don't know."

Dozens of tentacles spin and spin until they rupture. Green spew eructs hundreds of meters everywhere; it beats down on the soldiers and anything in its path. Trent and some of the men take cover in crates just before the material splashes on them. One of the women is not fortunate.

"Help!" The woman feels a horrible burn on her skin and the bile boil her flesh. Trent hurries to her aid.

"Calm down!" Trent holds her down, trying to keep her still, when he notices the liquid turn to a fleshy mass. Large tentacles tears out from her limbs and wormy nerves pop out from her bloody eyes. She shakes violently and knocks Trent to one of the crates.

"Run!" Everybody bolts in all directions. Trent runs northward where the gate is located, unfortunately for him, the mutated woman sets her sights on him. He dashes for his life as the monster hunts him. Around him soldiers battle with mutated soldiers. Some monsters tear soldiers to pieces and some hold them down and vomit on their faces to spread the disease. No one can assist Trent now. It's every man for himself.

The sirens continue to wail. Area 35 is now a battleground between the unidentified creatures and the decreasing soldiers. The tanks are launched from their treads by the sheer strength of the monsters. These creatures leap hundreds of yards to spread faster and avoid the limited resistance of the panicking soldiers.

"Get it off!" A soldier is knocked and held down by a mutated comrade. The monster vomits its acidic bile on his face. Trent leaps over the two and rushes through more overpowered soldiers. He can't trust them. The mutated woman continues to chase him, tearing soldiers apart and pulverizing debris in her way.

* * *

Meanwhile in the warehouse, Ryan and Jerry look in anguish at the monitor that gives a satellite view of the events unfolding outside in area 35. Men shout out orders while more sharpshooters hurry outside into the blizzard that has begun to sweep the land. Ryan paces to and fro, worried the quarantine might not succeed.

"Ryan!" Jerry walks up to him with more bad news. "The troops are being-"

"I know." Ryan interrupts him while looking at his scabbed palm "Give the sharpshooters green light."

"Yes." Jerry runs to the intercom by the entrance of the warehouse and contacts the sharpshooters. _"All snipers, you are clear."_ Above the massive gate, the snipers get ready.

Trent desperately runs toward a group of soldiers fending off waves of monsters. They are doing well enough to hold a major resistance.

"Mr. Hodges!" The sergeant of the group aims at the monster following Trent, tearing her to pieces with his powerful rifle. Trent is relieved but continues to run to the group.

"Good to see you Mr-"

A large object tears through the sergeant's stomach. Trent stumbles and runs behind a flaming tank for cover. Clanks are heard as bullets pierce through the group of soldiers. Trent peeks out and sees the snipers shooting at the men and monsters. The soldiers try to aim at the snipers, but they are either too late or killed by the monsters. The gate is less than 200 meters from Trent's position, and with the endless waves of monsters, he can either stay behind to die or risk death from sniper fire while dashing to the gate.

"Ryan!" Trent holds his cellphone with his cold hands while keeping an eye out for the right time to run. The snipers are having a difficult time. Not only trying to kill the countless monsters, but their own comrades. Trent turns and looks at the innocent soldiers being torn apart by the monsters and the armor-piercing bullets. One soldier is armless and walks disoriented through the carnage and massacre. A large horde of monsters pass him and run in the direction of Trent.

"Dear god..." Trent covers his eyes with his bloody arms as the monsters come closer, but they pass by him as well. The armless soldier is taken down by a sniper's bullet, and it is the sharpshooter the monsters are after.

The snipers keep firing at anything below. Soldiers have been reduced to a few and the monsters charge for the gate. The sharpshooters only infuriate the creatures, for they have stopped attacking the surviving soldiers, even if the soldiers shoot them down. Now the monsters' only desire is to kill the troublesome snipers.

Twenty minutes after the breakout, everything lays in ruins. Fires consume buildings and machines of war, smoke ascends to the dark sky, the green fog begins to seep out of the hellhole and saturate the war zone with its presence. But the monsters are furious and willing to sacrifice themselves to kill the enemy.

Trent sits in the blood-stained snow as the bitter cold and snow burns his face and hands. He is exhausted and sickened by the horrors that haunt him. The liquid on the ground has begun to turn into biomass; it seems to survive the extreme weather. His futile efforts to contact Ryan are still on his mind. But first he must run through no-man's-land, where the bullets will surely blow him to pieces.

* * *

The gunfire has died down. The only shots are being fired by the snipers. The monsters continue to charge at the gate, but they are killed with ease. Trent keeps looking at the event and realizes he can use the monsters as a distraction. But first he must give them a hand. He looks around the biomass and blood-flooded snow for a weapon. He crawls away and sees a RPG held by an arm. Without thinking, Trent removes the arm and checks the chamber; it is loaded with one anti-tank rocket. He crawls back to the tank and peeks out to see how everything is going. The monsters keep running and dying.

"Easy does it..." Trent aims the launcher at two sharpshooters. They have been doing most of the killing, both human and monster casualties. He has second thoughts, he does not want to kill them, but if he doesn't get to Ryan then the secrets of the tape die with him.

"I'm sorry." The force pulls Trent and the missile shoots out from the barrel. It is too fast for the snipers to dodge, and they are blown away by the splash of the explosion. This startles the other snipers and allows the monsters to reach the gate and crawl up with their tentacles. The sharpshooters find themselves in face to face combat with the monsters. Their weapons are useless for close-quarters, and they succumb to the brute force of the monsters.

Trent now drops the weapon and darts to the gate. He crouches and checks his cellphone for a signal. His dry and purple fingers dial the buttons for Ryan's number.

Inside the warehouse on the other side of the gate, Ryan and Jerry finish giving the last-resort orders. "Make sure everything is destroyed!" Ryan feels his phone vibrate and answers the caller. "Hello?"

Trent is under the crumbling gate and is relieved Ryan responds. "Ryan!"

"Trent?! You're alive?!"

"Get me out of here!" A stray bullet whizzes past Trent's ear.

"I can't do that."

"What?! Get me the hell out!"

"Code Red!"

"Forget the damn code! I'm not infected!"

"Look." Ryan walks to a dark corner away from the others. "The area's gonna get firebombed. I can't do anything."

"Ryan!" Trent screams, huddling for warmth while the tips of his fingers turn black. "I'm the only one that's seen the tape. You need me!"

"No, I don't."

"What?"

"I need to tell you something." Ryan takes out a cassette from his pocket. "I saw the tape before you. I know everything."

"What?" Trent is astonished by Ryan's revelation. "Oh god Ryan, why didn't you stop the teams?"

Ryan bites his lip and whispers, "Sorry, I must've forgot. It's been an honor working with you. Goodbye Trent." Ryan draws his cellphone away and returns to supervise the quarantine operation.

"Ryan!" In desperation Trent tries to call Ryan, but he won't answer. Trent is not getting out now. The loud roar of the jets begin to grow as they approach the quarantine.

"_This is Walrus one approaching sandbox."_

"_Roger Walrus, you are clear."_

Three jets zoom by the quarantine gate and drop dozens of bombs to the infested land below. Orange and red explosions light the night as the horrendous fire consumes everything in its path. Monsters and survivors are combusted by the rapid flames. Trent screams and runs frenzied as the flames devour his flesh. It is a hell no living thing can escape. The enormous tentacles collapse down; their sheer weight beats down on the land and causes the hole to begin a chain reaction with the land; the earth splits and sinks to the abyss with the fire raging it.

* * *

Forty minutes since the breakout, area 35 is no more. A deep abyss remains, and black smoke rises like that of a volcano's. Nothing remains of the monsters. The other side of the excavation area is intact, and inside the warehouse the fortunate survivors are in mournful celebration. Peace is once more, but the ghastly silence will remain.

"We did it." Jerry and Ryan speak alone in the dark storage room, where humvees and choppers sit untouched.

"Yeah." Ryan takes out a chrome whiskey bottle from the inner pocket of his jacket.

"How do you think Eve is going to react?"

"I've no idea." Ryan chugs down the alcohol.

"Are we gonna be able to pull this off?"

"I think so."


	7. Chapter 6: Oblivion

**A/N: I will try uploading a new chapter on a weekly basis now that summer vacation is here. If time and personal improvements permit, I might be able to do more. Good thing, because the story is only beginning. **

**Chapter 6**

**-Oblivion-**

"_Please maintain a straight single-filed line and relinquish any blunt objects or electric weapons."_

Outside the Colosseum, on the dead brown fields where order is once more, legions of protesters march defeated, Riot Control following behind, into detention vehicles. Some are whipped to hurry and few are tackled to the dirt. Most of them are covered in blood; the unfortunate ones suffer from wounds. On the sides stand medical tents and stations for those wounded, be they suffering from a broken leg or fried circuit boards. Helicopters hover above the masses; some carry arrested leaders of the protest. The charred corpse of the foolish man is broken up; his crispy arms and legs are hacked by 3 Stewards and placed inside body bags. Some of the soldiers are appalled by the sight, others repudiate it as something common.

Prisoners of war they are; a war of dissent and jingoist zealotry that affects the innocent as much as the soldiers. The lost child is carried in the arms of a soldier-bot and placed next to her wounded mother. The woman was not protesting in this violent tirade; she was passing by with her daughter. Innocent blood is the worst blood spilt in such senseless war. Much to the soldiers' relief, the woman was the only victim caught in the fire.

Neutral bystanders look at the thousands of arrested men and women horded into the behemoths. They stare with shock and despisal. Some are not the ignorant type, and some are. But both are wise for staying out of these uncivilized debates.

Hot winds flutter from the east and into the city. Mortal men perspire and androids feel the heat saturate their metal bodies. Two different lives, yet both seek relief in the shade of a leafy oak tree or edifice. As always, regardless of their neutrality from radical or superiority groups, both keep away from each other. They've grown accustomed to a moderate degree of segregation.

High above in the summit of the modern relic, where the breeze refreshes from the scorching sun, and all is tranquil as a fleecy cloud, Eve watches her people arrest and maltreat her people. She is not a despot, no, for _even_ the most benevolent rulers must discipline those whom follow, even revere them. After all, if the benevolent rulers neglected that duty for the felicity of their people, then they would not be showing their love for them; they might as well be hated for being so uncaring. But knowing her actions are a display of concern is not sufficient to keep Eve from feeling like a tyrant.

* * *

The probe sighs, overwhelmed by the little work she has confronted today. Luckily, the guilt and stress begin to diminish as she becomes more aware of the refreshing winds. Out of curiosity, just to see if relaxation will be possible, the white probe spreads her arms and head. The wind kisses her concealed areas; underneath her arms and bowl neck. Her eyes turn to gleeful crescents; she sighs in robotic bleeps from the relief and ecstasy. Such a lovely manner for her to rid the angst, but the guilt lingers in her mind, making this leisure a bittersweet delight.

"Enjoying the weather?" A deep voice murmurs. Her eyes widen into blue circles, and the startled probe spins herself around. She spots him, the black man, panting for air and dressed in a green flannel shirt and khaki pants; a network of black SAPI plates coverthem. There is an insignia on his right breastplate of a green leaf held by human and robot hands, with 4 stars curved underneath it.

"Jeremy!" Eve's eyes shape into joyful crescents again. "How is my Colonel doing?"

"Dying." Jeremy says with humorous intent. He approaches Eve and stands next to her, leaning against the silver rail with both arms. The rays of the sun illuminate his bald head as bright as the sun itself, and droplets of sweat run down from his forehead and sting his eyes. The weather is cooler, but he is still cooling down after running endless flights of stairs. "Damn elevator was broken—had to take the stairs."

"Unfortunate." Eve says, still enjoying the pleasant breeze on her metal but looking at Jeremy every now and then.

"Nah, the exercise did me good."

"Well," Eve proceeds, "how long has it been? Three months?"

"Yeah." Jeremy spots the masses of protesters below. "Nothings' changed much, huh?"

"No." Eve chuckles, feeling hysterical for finding humor in such serious issues. She tries changing the subject. "Well, tell me all about your vacation."

"It was good. " He smiles, gums and teeth showing. "Absalom's doing pretty good for a kid his age. We ran around the Axiom a few hours every day. I can never keep up with that boy."

"You must be proud."

"I'm real proud. He gonna be like his dad someday."

Eve giggles at that thought, then asks him, "so, did you like the desert?"

"Somewhat. The sunsets were nice and food was exquisite. But it was too damn hot, plus they didn't let us inside the Axiom. They turn me, a Colonel, down!" Jeremy chuckles as he stomps the rails with his hands. "But it was good. And now I'm back. Well, enough about me. I wanna catch up with you and Wall-e. How the two of you been?"

"Same." The probe says, but with little enthusiasm. Her eyes look down into the fields of cold industry. The weather is still pleasant, except one thing.

"What's wrong?"

"Look at them." She points to the protesters, many being escorted outside the Colosseum perimeter to the prisons, and the wounded woman loaded into an emergency chopper. "Now look over there." Now she points down to the Colosseum lake, where the healthy green grass and buttercups intertwined with daffodils adorn the vast lake like the human and robot guards who frolic around; happy to exist and happy to be with each other. A number of wounded soldiers walk away from the war zone and head to the lake, where the robots welcome them and their brothers take them to the water to wash away their impurities. Not uncommon mannerisms on behalf of the guards.

Jeremy's eyes flicker and his voice is soothing. "Yes, I see what you mean."

"I cannot comprehend it. We found a way to coexist with this Earth, but not each other."

"Well, there was a time we were united like those guards down there. If we hadn't, then it would've been impossible to cleanse the Earth. I mean, how could we have fixed this planet if we ourselves had been damaged?"

"Yes," Eve hisses with audacity in her voice, "I know. I was there."

Jeremy raises an eyebrow, feeling attacked. "I'm just saying."

* * *

Eve stops relishing the wind and feels the bitterness of remorse. "What did I just say?" Her eyes blink and turn into blue static. The robot floats away from Jeremy and hovers in place.

Jeremy approaches Eve, worried she may be malfunctioning. "Are you okay?" He places his palms on her face to deflect the glare of the sun and get a better view of her eyes.

"Yes, please..." Eve says. "Now don't worr-"

The probe stops. Odd, it appears Jeremy's face is ridden with greasy boils.

"Jeremy?" Eve whispers, worried the sun has burned his flesh. She tries releasing herself from his grip, but he squeezes harder and harder, now with a frown.

He springs up and bellows at the sky. Astounded, Eve backs away, but he sinks his claws into her arms and slams her down. The monster throws himself on her; tentacles wrapped on her arms and head. Its blood vessels burst and spew a yellow pus on her. She tosses and turns with all her might, but can't release herself; he is too powerful. The more she struggles to break loose, the stronger he grows.

"Jeremy!" Eve says, voice drowned out by his limbs, but the beast roars and gains more control. "Release me!" Spiked tentacles sprout from the soiled ground and enwrap the rest of her body. Jeremy's flesh begins to burn and gush on Eve. Soon he is nothing more but a puddle of biomass, but the carbonized bones remain. Drowned by a barbarous demon, Eve seizes to resist. This is the end.

"Eve!" Jeremy's voice hollers. His face has returned to normal; all of him. The miserable robot finds herself on the concrete, covered in water. Jeremy was just helping her during her spontaneous epileptic episode.

Eve lowers her head, staring at the floor with despondant eyes. "I'm sorry." She hoped Jeremy wouldn't have had to see her like this.

"Something is wrong, isn't it?"

Jeremy extends his hand to Eve and pulls her up, keeping his distance from her.

"That was... it was..." The probe shakes her head in hopes that he'll forget like Wall-e.

By now the protesters have been cleared off the grounds. Few patrol troops zoom by in the sky and lifeless fields.

"You can tell me." Jeremy kneads Eve's chin with his fingers. The Colonel lifts her trembling head and looks into her dull eyes with a grin. "Tell me." His cellphone buzzes. "Damn." He swipes it out from its holster and whispers into it, still keeping his eyes on Eve. "Yes soldier?" To Eve, the man on the other end of the line yells in despair, but she can't comprehend his words.

"What is it?" Eve says, with puzzled eyes.

Jeremy raises his hand. "Sorry, hang on." He walks away, far enough to prevent intrusion from Eve. She is still jittery from the episode, but the breeze begins to calm her again. Now she can meditate on what could be causing her this pain of a nightmare. Perhaps it is a malfunction, or she may just be sick with something. What a strong robot she is. Had these things happened to a human, the weak creature would have died. Nevertheless, she has decided today has been enough. She will go home to Wall-e and spend the remainder of the day with him. Only he can assuage her from this calamity. And besides, today she promised to play a bit of piano for him. After that, she'll seek help.

Jeremy strides back to Eve. There is something different about him now. Not his face, but the emotions inside his eyes. His lips quiver; his nose drips sweat; he is hesitant to inform Eve of the news.

"Yes?" The curious probe 'raises' one eye.

"I." Jeremy wipes one hand on his face, vacillating his fingers on his eyes; his voice one of a disheartened soldier. "I have some bad news."


	8. Chapter 7: Remains

**A/N: Well, first I would like to thank the many friendly readers who have given me the energy to keep going. I, like many of you, saw the new Pixar movie "Up." It was quite moving and sentimental. The best movie I've seen so far this year, but I still like Wall-e much more. Well, hopefully "Up" fanfics will begin to pour around soon. **

**I'm trying to write twice the usual amount. I'm doing this to prevent the horrid writer's block. It's a damn pain, and I no need to remind any of you of that. So expect chapters to be 'up' more frequently. **

**I know I've said this before, but this story is just getting started. It's ridiculous how early in the story I am. I'm so far from halfway. Well, I must remind that this story is a sci-fi/drama/horror/angst book. **

**Well, here is chapter 7. Enjoy:**

**Chapter 7**

**-Remains-**

"_All right ma'am, we're almost there."_ The pilot says via PA, switching control buttons and eying the ally radar inside the cockpit of The Motherload.

The titanic ship zooms across vast fields of hills of snow. The bitter cold winds come upon and blow snow into the dark air like silver dust. But the night is not entirely adverse, neither all black; green incandescent lights spread across the azure sky; embellished by the twinkling of stars dwelling in the infinity of the universe; joined by the full moon lessening the hypnotic phenomena of the aurora. Even with the glass roof revealing the splendor of the heavens, the white probe has no time to indulge in awe-inspiration. She sits inside the passenger deck with her agents, whom also have no time to heed the grandiosity. Her feminine blue eyes glow inside, the sole source of light, for it is dark in there as well.

Eve draws her cellphone and dials for Jeremy's phone. While the call transfers, she begins to ruminate on Wall-e's reaction when he learns she will not be coming home early. Perhaps he'll throw a tantrum, but not likely. Maybe the robot will sleep outside in the garden until his anger fades. Yes, maybe so.

"Talk to me." Jeremy says, on the other line.

Eve holds her phone up against her left temple. "Do you remember what I ordered?"

"Yes, yes: Tell Wall-e you're coming home late and keep him company."

"Good. Again, thank you. I will see you later—"

"Wait! Do you mind explaining why you went over there again?"

"For answers." Eve says, looking at Gerald eat fig paste in silence.

"From him?"

_Yes_. Eve bleeps in concurrence.

Jeremy sighs. This is the first time she has done something in such a hurry. Eve ends the call and draws away her phone.

"_Okay, Vector's got a clear LZ, bring her down."_

The vessel halts in a frigid lake. It is hard like rock, cold like nitrogen, but crystal clear. Engines bellow throughout the frozen land, into the remote glaciers, and the yellow lights beam down and throughout, the roof and headlights, giving away the ship's position from miles away. The ardent heat of the anti-gravity panels sear the snow and ice below the Motherload. Then the ship descends to the ground.

Inside, Eve rises from her seat and hovers to the main entry door, which has opened. A gust of snow puffs inside, blowing on the faces of the sputtering men. The probe readies for the jump.

"Eve!" Gerald calls, covering his face and throat.

"Yes?" The snow blows on Eve, but it does not trouble the robot.

"Don't let him get to you."

Eve nods and smiles with her eyes. He won't be getting to her. She has only come for answers, to find out what happened, nothing else. No small talk or forced talk, only this.

"_Now!"_

She jumps out, free falling. The cold air friction slides on her body while the snow buries her eyes in frost. Fearless, she gains flight and travels off in a horizontal line. She leaves a blue trail of light as she sails in the snowy sky. She is rapid, faster than The Motherload, which now follows her. For her, an old robot, the bitter cold feels good. What a feeling this is. Free from her duties and free from the agony.

"_Ma'am?"_

Eve is snapped back to reality. She has come for a mission. No more distractions. The white probe descends and lands in the lake. The ship hovers above her, scanning the area for any unfriendliness in Eve's vicinity.

"_Good luck ma'am."_ The pilot hollers. _"Call us and we'll pick you up!"_

_

* * *

_In a heartbeat the ship disappears. Eve hovers in place. Around her sit dead trees and more hills of untouched snow. The lake on which she stands is no greater than half a kilometer. Such loneliness, but the solace does not frighten nor does it sadden her. But it does not comfort her either. A hollow feeling is all this brings. Perhaps the hypnotic aurora and the moon and the stars have no effect on this robot. Or maybe after discovering the bad news the probe was struck to a degree in which she now bottles up her emotions to preserve her image of a strong leader, which is not healthy, especially for a robot.

She remains in her spot. Her metal heats to prevent frosting. Her usual self would be marveling at this uncommon fantasia of nature, but again, she has come for an important mission. Odd, now she ponders on the adversities of this day: the nightmare, the chaos, the hallucinations, the disunity, the violence, and now this, the death of an old friend. What has happened? Her world has been turned from one day to the next. Unfortunate. A warmhearted probe like her does not deserve this, but in an unpredictable universe, anything is possible.

Loud chopping of blades becomes audible to Eve. Her scanners check the area; nothing but more snow. The chopping becomes louder. She draws out her plasma cannon and focuses. No thoughts, just feelings. The roar grows; it screeches like the grinding of frenzied chainsaws. Dim white lights glow ahead and grow like the noise. It's a helicopter, and it approaches her.

Eve is face to face with the machine. Inside the cockpit, the pilots seem worried of Eve's cannon. The probe mumbles in dissatisfaction and draws her weapon away. The blizzard has ended and the peace returns. This is auspicious for the chopper's landing. The probe covers her face from the searchlight fixed on her, and the aircraft floats down. One of the side door opens, and out steps none other but Ryan. He wears a leather trenchcoat and earmuffs. Not ideal for Alaskan weather, now colder in this present future, but perhaps they are thermal.

The old man advances on Eve, who's eyes shape into disgruntled Us.

"Whoa!" Ryan remarks, smoke blowing out of his mouth, rubbing his hands together and shrugging for warmth. "Why did we meet like this?"

Eve keeps her eyes vexed. "I thought it would be nice to enjoy the scenery."

Ryan mumbles slurred words of irritation "Well then," he says, smiling to not give Eve her satisfaction, "should we go?" Soon he holds his whiskey flask on his hand.

"I need you sober." Eve signals him to stop, keeping her honorary posture of leader. The man frowns, but complies. "Now we go."

Ryan gestures the chopper pilots to take off. The helicopter blades spin and lift the aircraft from the ground and into the sky. It flies off north to the dark sky, and Eve and Ryan follow.

* * *

It is a walk, a walk in the unforgiving snow, a walk in the cold desert of Alaska, in the year 4415. The aurora borealis lightens Eve's glossy white body into a green and red beauty. On Ryan, it does nothing. For him, the walk is more difficult: constantly stepping on slush that tries to suck him down like quicksand, snow splashing on his face from the flapping of his trenchcoat, the cold breeze against his red creased face, the difficulty keeping his hands warm inside his side pockets, and the lack of whiskey. For Eve, the walk is a breeze.

The two pass through more hills of snow, dead trees, and pellucid glass lakes . Ryan coughs every now and then, but this is nothing for him. He's been faced with greater enemies. He keeps close to Eve, for her body warmth is quite strong. Lucky for him, her warmth is also her sympathy for jerks like him. But being an old man, he needs more than the temperature required to melt frost away.

Minutes seem like hours. Their destination is not very far, but Ryan's constant struggles to keep up consume much time. If Ryan had less self-pride, he would ask Eve to carry him.

After countless set backs from Ryan, they arrive. Eve stops, and the clumsy man bumps on her. The probe nearly falls inside the dreaded chasm, but she swings herself back Here it is: area 35 after the breakout. Light stations have been placed around the hole, but besides them, nothing remains from the incident, nothing. Smoke has seized to ascend. The dead souls of the innocent and the monsters haunt the abyss, trying to reveal the reality that was. Though the gate remains, burnt and crippled from their vantage point. Few of Ryan's men in the distant bases look in awe. Ryan himself is amazed at the destruction of his own property, but not one.

"He was so young." Eve's blue eyes turn into sad crescents. The loss of a good friend needs no words to express the grief.

"Yeah, shame." The old man says, not from heart, but rather from etiquette. She doesn't need to be a robot to detect his sarcasm.

"What did happen?" Eve needs to know how it all happened. How so many could perish in so little time.

"It's the darnest thing." Ryan says, looking at the aurora in the horizon. "I've never seen anything like it."

Eve demands an answer. Her eyes now shaped in her frustration. "What happened?"

"Okay, don't get mad." The man smirks and begins. "The gas tanks, they malfunctioned."

"The gas tanks?" Eve is dumbfounded. "Do you have proof?" The robot tries to keep her voice firm.

"Yeah, I have the report." Ryan takes out his PDA and, with a few clicks, begins to read. "According to the report, there was a malfunction with the coolant levels of the tanks, the gases interacted with the methane, the coolant was too thick, no one was around to make the right changes manually, everything went boom. There's more on reactor neglect: never leave the tanks unsupervised, Trent's fault, that fool kicked me and all my men out, so if the alarm systems went off then no one would hear it and no one would be aware of their last day. Also-"

"Enough!" Eve motions him to stop talking. An abrupt end to his sermon.

"Well, anything else?"

"No. It seems plausible."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Ryan feels relieved. She bought it. How unexpected though. The bitch would usually ask thousands of questions from dawn to dusk.

Ryan's helicopter descends from the sky and lands behind them. The fierce winds blow on his hair and trenchcoat. He and Eve walk to the ship.

"So, I'm thinking of taking a few weeks off before this whole thing gets resolved." Ryan shouts, squinting his eyes and covering his hair.

"Really?"

"Yeah." They stop at the open door of the chopper. "Well, this is it. Take care."

"I would not recommend you go in public." Eve is well aware Ryan is not liked by many humans and robots. After all, it was he who incited the laws of robotics.

"My philosophies were anonymous." He reminds her. "You really think I'd still work for you if they knew it was me?"

Eve has no response. She'll acquiesce to whatever he says. For an old man, he knows things she would not imagine.

"Don't worry about me. I myself don't believe many parts of those laws. Asimov was only a man." The helicopter ascends to the sky, and Ryan waves goodbye from his seat.

Alone again. The probe remains here, meditating on the rapid emotions that inundate her spirit. She fixes her blue eyes on the green aurora, and somehow feels like just releasing herself. To free herself from all of this, this pain of a life, this oblivious existence. What is the purpose of humanity? From the things she's seen, humans are as obsolete as they were 1200 years ago. Robots are the same as well, but with more liberty. But right now, she just wants to release herself. To float away in the aurora and into the universe, never to return. But if she did that, she would not have Wall-e. Her love; he keeps her going and keeps her here, for the sake of all.

The Motherload appears out of nowhere, and the behemoth floats above Eve again. She studies the night sky one more time before flying inside the ship. Home awaits.

**A/N: Any questions or objections? Let me know. **


	9. Chapter 8: Confessions

**Chapter 8**

**-Confessions-**

It's been a long night for Eve. This day has been different from her quotidian life as leader. After facing the things she has endured, all she wants is for this day to end in peace. No more phantasms or illusions. No more violence, no more casualties, just peace. Until tomorrow, she will put off with her anomaly.

The Motherload returns to the Tower after 4 hours of travel through numerous cities, towns, and military bases. By this time the human workers are asleep, so it is the robot elite that is in commission of security and the small big responsibilities. Inside the hangar, everything is calm like the night outside. The armada of ships lie on balconies, security and repair bots loiter inside boiler rooms, where the seepage of sewers and oily walls pleasure the messiest work machine.

Eve dashes through somber corridors, lit by candle-like bulbs of orange light, to get to him, Wall-e. By this time he should be fast asleep too. If not then he might be waiting for her to arrive so that he may give her an hour of gratuitous quarrel in which both will end hurt. If it weren't for his speech impediment, it would last a mere twenty minutes. Eve hopes the latter does not occur; she has been through enough, and facing more pain from her love, the love that keeps her going in this world of tragedy, would be the breaking point.

But what bothers her more is her failure, that is, to have given Wall-e an enchanting day for their anniversary. Things should not have been like this. It was meant to be a night for them to grow closer, to free their souls and hold hands, touching the essence of the nostalgic wonder that is love. It was meant to be that, but any time available tomorrow will have to do.

"Go deep." Jeremy says, throwing a football to Wall-e inside the rebuilt dormitory, where Eve waltzes inside since the door is unlocked. The yellow robot rockets to the far end of the room, leaping over the master bed now stationed in the middle, and catches the ball with his left hand.

The probe approaches Jeremy, who is unaware of her presence.

"Whoa!" Jeremy's eyes pop out from their sockets. "Eve!" The man smirks while huffing. "You scared the bejesus out of me."

Giggling, she pats him on the shoulder. His expression gave her a fright too.

"E-vah!" Wall-e's eyes shine with joy. He darts through the room and crashes with her, pushing her on the golden wall and causing a crevice. They're okay.

"Wall-e!" Eve places her fins on his sides. The two cherish a kiss and hug with all their might. Jeremy looks at the two happy lovers enjoying each other on the wall fragments. As if they struck gold after endless hours of waiting.

"I guess I'll be leaving." Jeremy waves goodbye.

"No, wait!" Eve springs up and stops him.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to tell you something. It's important." Her voice has a tone change, a tone of a preoccupied spirit.

"Well, okay."

Rolling of treads echo inside the spacious room, and Eve senses a presence next to her. "What wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." The probe points her finger to the grand piano sitting by the open window of the balcony. "Wall-e...tune...piano."

"Tune piano? Tapping his hands in eagerness, Wall-e bounces up and down.

"Yes...Wall-e tune piano." The little robot races to the piano and opens the lid. Tunning the strings will take him a while. He has only done this twice.

With that done, both friends step out of the dormitory to keep Wall-e from being inquisitive. Making himself comfortable, Jeremy slants against the wall with his right leg, arms crossed, and head turned to Eve. Hovering with droopy arms, Eve begins talking, keeping her face down. "I needed to tell someone about some things bothering me. It's been..." Her voice breaks; she cries, fins on her eyes, making odd mechanical shrieks of a desperate robot. "...horrible."

Seeing his friend burst into crying makes Jeremy get up and go to her aid. "Do these things have something to do with what happened at the Colosseum?"

"Partially." Clearing her voice, she tries to end her sobbing. "But it's more complicated."

"I'm listening."

The probe cuddles her head on Jeremy's shoulder. He hugs her but is attentive to her every move. She may turn again. "I had a dream last night." She says. "Wall-e died. I tried to stop it—I really did. But I couldn't. I couldn't."

"How did he die?"

"A monster kills him. I keep warning Wall-e, but he will not listen. The beast is right behind him, but Wall-e does not know."

"Then what happens?"

"The monster wounds him, and he falls. I try to help him, but I can't move. I want to help him, but, I just can't." With head tilted back on the bowl gap that is her neck, Eve pauses. She does not wish to continue reliving this nightmare.

Jeremy notices. "Keep going Eve." He keeps his arm wrapped on her egg body, patting the gap that houses her arm during sleep mode. She's known to love being petted.

"I rather not."

"I'm here. Be strong. You have been through a lot of shit to let a dream put you down like this. You are a leader with centuries of experience. Not everyone or anyone has that."

"But-"

"You've faced many challenges that stood in your way of your goals, and now you have to face this obstacle standing between you and peace."

His military eloquence seems to have revived her spirits. "Thank you." She releases herself from his hug and clears her voice once more. "I'll continue."

Minutes pass, and Wall-e becomes impatient. _Please do not interrupt us, _he remembers those words buzz in his head; Eve's words, after he intruded the two. The piano is ready to go, but she isn't. Bored out of his naïve mind, with nothing to do or ponder about, he strikes the piano key with his finger. Delighted, he presses another key. Now in order, lowest note to highest note. Interesting, but now he presses the black keys. They sound different. Can he play like Eve? He tries, imitating the manner in which she has played.

Outside, Eve has finished. Jeremy knows all she has experienced today. "Well, I'm honored that you came to me. That shows you want help, and that you trust me. I wish I could tell you what your dream meant, but I'm just a Colonel. But I can take you to my personal psychiatrist. He's helped me with some problems I've had in the past." Jeremy slams his hands on the floor and rises. "I'll schedule an appointment." 1:34 a.m. blinks on his military watch. "Damn, I have to go."

"Wait, there is something else I need to tell you. But if you have to leave-"

"No, don't worry. I'm here. You can tell me."

Sitting down on the floor again, the two friends keep their heads down. Not from sadness, but to avoid seeing the dismal blackness that surrounds them. Hearing her dream made Jeremy frightened.

"As you know, I went to Alaska to see the remainders of area 35. There was nothing but a hole."

"I was told the tanks malfunctioned."

"That is where I am having my doubts. Ryan said Trent neglected the appointment of a technician, but I knew Trent; it was not of him to be irresponsible."

"What are you suggesting?" Jeremy whispers.

"I suspect, not suggest, that Ryan had something to do with the accident."

"You sayin' he did it?"

"It's plausible."

Jeremy is doubtful Ryan would go through with that. "But why?"

"Trent did not permit Ryan to view the tape. He was furious."

"But it doesn't make sense. Why would Ryan throw away years of research and destroy his own property for not being allowed to watch a lost tape?"

"Perhaps he did it out of revenge— he is vindictive—or maybe something else. Something much more important. I do not know, but I am going to find out."

Looking at Eve with an eye brow raised, Jeremy has an idea of her idea. "You're gonna spy on him?"

"To a degree. I am not allowed to tap his phones or computer; he would blame me of wrongful accusation."

"Yeah, there's too much bureaucracy that would protect him and incriminate you."

"But I have an alternative." The probe draws her cellphone. An image of a machine appears, rife with circuits and wires and whatnot. "This is a VWT 7000 WA Biotic-"

"Yeah—yeah, it's that machine that morphs any matter into any shape. Not recommended for living things to use it. But what do you have in mind?"

"Meet me tomorrow in the Colosseum, around nine. I'll see that you are granted access. I will explain everything there."

Jeremy seems skeptical, even if he does not know Eve's scheme, but after all, she has come to him for help.

"Okay, I'll be waiting." The two rise from the floor and ready to part ways. "Good night. Sleep well."

"Farewell."

**A/N: Sorry for the swearing, but Jeremy is a soldier, and soldiers are known to express their anger and frustration through profanity. Anyway, things are going to get romantic between Wall-e and Eve in the next chapter, but not in that "lusty" way. It's going to be a challenge getting a romantic chapter done, but I'm up for it. I'll be in need of some inspiration, so expect a few days to pass before getting to read the chapter. Thank you all again for your helpful reviews and time. I am honored to cater to all of you. I wish I could get this story done, but like I've previously put it, it's damn long. I'd say in the end there will be 120,000 words, maybe more. I'm not sure, but trust me, it's long. I'm not halfway finished, so please, give me all the support you can. **


	10. Chapter 9: EVErlasting Passion

**Chapter 9**

**-Everlasting Passion-**

The sound of string vibrating fills the roomy dormitory. Though not a pleasant sound; it's the sound of an amateur pianist. Not his fault; the robot has a long way to go before playing like Eve--in a way that would relax the most anxious of men, even robots afflicted with the taste of insanity—like herself.

"Wall-e..." Nodding her head and smiling, she looks at him sitting on the wooden stool, trying to play the grand instrument.

"E-vah done?" He reaches for her hands and gawks into her with puppy eyes.

"Yes...done." No matter how late in the night, she is determined to celebrate their anniversary together. Without bitterness and without intrusions. Poor Wall-e deserves it. He has been quite patient.

Eve slides next to him and warms up with some scales. With eyes closed, savoring the breeze fluttering inside through the crystal window; disturbing the tranquility of the maroon drapes, she strikes the ivory keys with her slender fingers to the tune of _Moonlight Sonata_. The marvelous sound of the piano flows like the smooth wind throughout their room that is lit by a silver satellite sparkling above in the azure heavens.

"Whoa..." Breath taken by her astonishing talent, Wall-e wraps his arms on her, kissing her cheek, feeling closer to her. Inebriation by thousand-year-old genius of a master is a rarity in this society, where mediocrity and simplicity drown the minds of the oblivious, the feeble-minded, and the idiotic. Fortunately, Wall-e and Eve appreciate the aesthetic of the authentic and the original.

So pleasant everything develops. They are a Romeo and Juliet, for they were unlikely for each other; being born into different levels of the caste system. Him a trash compactor; her a sleek retriever. Even when their differences clashed they fought to stay together, to never let go no matter what happened. But their love story had a happy ending, and now they are here, enjoying life with one another.

Eve strikes the last note of the sonata and Wall-e remains in his seat, lovedrunk.

"E-vah." Saying her name, he rolls on over to the crimson bed.

Eve bleeps, raising an eye, unsure of what he is doing. Then he pats the bed.

"Oh." She hovers to the bed too and sits next to him, kissing and holding hands. They kiss longer—with more passion. Intimacy, not lust, rushes inside their robotic circuits. Touched by the staggering splendor of each other, they lie on the bed, eyes fixed on each other. Their metal bodies shine as bright as the universe of twinkling wonders above in the sky. Just pondering of how robots, the children of humanity, came to need love and give it is a wondrous amazement.

He stares at her white body, marveling at the beauty while sliding his finger as she giggles. She stares into his sparky eyes.

"Wall-e..." Eve whispers, stroking her smooth fingers on his eyes, her voice as soothing as the breeze, awe-struck by his innocent eyes and radiant coat of yellow. He is more handsome than the first time she met him, but no matter his appearance, she will never seize to love him.

"E-vah..." He feels the warmth of her love rush through his insides. For him, the starry sky is unmatched by her incredible grace. Her blue eyes shining brighter than the stars; her beautiful body symmetry that would incite lovelorn in mortal men; all that is her.

_...and he will die. _Eve remembers the remembers his aggravating it is, when one is in euphoria, the grotesque and the perturbing intrude the eyes turn into sad crescents, the shape of an incomplete moon. She releases herself from his clench and gazes at him with worry.

"E-vah?" Wall-e says, concerned as to why she is sad in a moment like this.

"Wall-e." She squeezes his hand. "I love you." Eve hopes she will never have to let go. She loves him too much. Living life without him would be unthinkable, for he is her strength and her purpose. She would renounce a life, and go with him and rest in the Sheol of oblivion.

"I...love you." Correct pronunciation in so long. Caressing her love with his hand, Wall-e presses his recorder button. A familiar song plays, buzzing inside their heads. _It Only Takes a Moment_ ; their song, the song that symbolizes their intercourse.

"Oh Wall-e..." Eve's eyes twinkle white light, hinting of her weeping. This song reminds her of the unforgettable resurrection of Wall-e. It was the turning point of her life.

"E-vah sad?"

"Far from it..." It is the sadness of joy, the indescribable feeling two souls experience when they know they've found each other; soul mates. The feeling that makes existence worth bearing.

"Oh..." He whimpers with her. They hold each other tighter and cry. Yes, it is good for them. This is love. Something beyond what skeptical minds have not grasped but hastily classify, comparing it to insanity and intoxication. Love is beyond human comprehension. Beyond the laws of nature and the laws of man. Beyond the boundaries of reality and parameters of existence.

"...And that is all..."

"What love's about."

Asleep under the stars with each other. This was truly one memorable anniversary that will live in their memories for years to come. In the end, it only took them a moment to be loved, but that moment was everlasting. They have lived through epochs of resurrection, revolution, and even the degeneration of civilization. They have seen many things. They have lost friends. But one thing remains. Can you guess what it is?

**A/N: There is something I must confess to you all. It may sound odd or ridiculous, but I cried writing this chapter; it left me dumbfounded. This seemed like a good ending, but this is still just the beginning. I've dedicated so much into this story. I hope my efforts aren't in vain. By the way, intercourse is a different word for relationship, not mating.**


	11. Chapter 10: Mechanical Metamorphosis

**A/N: Sorry for the holdup. I was going to have this up yesterday but I had other things to do. This chapter is a bit complicated due to aesthetic and scientific references/themes. Therefore I am expecting a lot of questions regarding this chapter, so be patient so that I may give you the most comprehensible answer. Thank you again to all my readers and fans. As if I had any fans xD.**

**Chapter 10**

**-Mechanical Metamorphosis-**

**---**

**8:30 a.m.**

**June 27, 4415**

One eye sees the digits; the other remains closed, buried in the pillow. Vague jazzy patterns swirl inside Eve's head as the lethargy weighs her body down like stones. She slams the cellphone on the table, spilling the flower vase. Last night was beautiful, but now she must deal with the aftermath. Not as beautiful. She presses her hands against the mattress and rises, slapping her face to avoid falling asleep. Her pale eyes meet with Wall-e's, who sleeps curled up in the sheets like a baby. His eyelids are not closed since robots with tangible eyes like him are not required to shut them to recharge. This is favorable to Eve as she always gets happy sensations from seeing his eyes. She smiles and grabs her cellphone, wishing she could snooze with him. May he be there when she returns.

Soon she finds herself hovering through the white corridors, turning corners and passages, headed to the hangar. Nothing new happens in this routine. Repairmen and bots crawl around like ants as always, but ahead, where the Motherboard rests, there is only one agent.

"Why this early?" Gerald asks, rubbing his eyes and flickering yellow crust on the floor.

"I'm meeting Jeremy."

Gerald draws out shades and fixes them on the tip of his small nose. "Too bad it's me you chose to accompany you."

Gleeful eyes "Enough bellyaching. Let us go."

The Motherload sails through the gray morning sky, above the humans staggering in the hills laboring about with husbandry, and by the riot town, in which forensic investigators pick at the rubble and ashes. Aside from that, there are no more disturbances to Eve. For the rest of the flight she remains silent, hoping no violence breaks out today.

Today is a Saturday, so the city dwellers will be occupied with aristocratic prosperity and merry partying, so chances of violence are slim. Sometimes it'd be better for the humans to carry on with their petty lives, unaware of the notions controlling them, than struggle for superiority or be indifferent. But Eve knows that is what the Axiom did to mankind, and it was not bad, but it was insignificant. For that she believes they must struggle to coexist, even cause harm amongst themselves, rather than return to caustic indulgences. It would be harsh, but it would be propitious to find a purpose in the universe.

They arrive at the Colosseum and follow their usual routine of boarding the transport-bot and going through security. By now Jeremy should be waiting inside the council chamber; Eve gave him access. How nervous she is to explain him the plan. First she must cross through the corridor that will lead here there, the corridor now marked in her mind with sickening horrors that tried to suffocate her and inject her with flux of madness. They were only a hallucination, but the intangible can petrify as well as the real.

The black man sits in Eve's throne impressed by the architecture around him. The cream Corinthian columns and the vignettes carved from marble and limestone depicting the different eras humanity endured after the Axiom landing. These events surround him, reminding him of the things those few still alive lived. In the eminence of all, where the absence of light is inevitable like innocence of the habitués of civilization, extends a portrait of a humanoid figure, half human and half machine, reaching for a luminous orb. It is unity, peace, or a purpose.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting!" The probe storms through the entrance, zooms over the council table, knocking over some ornaments, to salute Jeremy. Startled, he is quick to his feet.

"It's all right." Jeremy says, scratching his nape. "How you feeling today?"

"I'm well."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Last night's affairs inundate Eve's mind. Reminiscing of Wall-e, with eyes of a drunk, she taps her desk. "I'm sure."

A hologram of the machine from last night comes to light. This time it's in schematic display, with algebraic and quantum equations dotted around, and its components revolving like hyperactive gears. Jeremy and her gaze at the spectacle.

"The _VWT 7000 WA Mechanical Metamorphosis Converter_ morphs abiotic matter into any physical shape. Unlike living organisms that require precise deoxy ribonucleic acid authentications in the machine, the dependent variable is transformed by a volatile matrix regardless of its matter composition or elements in its material. Many of my artificial undercover agents use the machine to morph into an identical human."

"I know. But why are you showing it to me?"

Eve turns herself around, arms droopy, unsure whether she should tell him. "Forget it."

"No, come on, tell me. I'm your friend."

The exact words Trent had spoken yesterday. "Fine. It's essential for my plan."

"What plan?"

Eve seizes Jeremy by his arm and leads him out of the chamber. "Follow me."

* * *

After passing through obscure Greek-aesthetic-inspired corridors and statues of the early humans from the Axiom, the two arrive to a warehouse laboratory guarded by two titanic GUN-RS. They're hydraulic robots armed with two 30mm Automatic Cannons. Machines of war used for security.

"Ma'am." One of the mammoth roars, saluting her with his cylinder arm.

"Gentlemen." Eve says, waving her hand while entering the laboratory.

The dark laboratory is illuminated by green lights and computer screens. Catwalks lead down to the ground level, where the _VWT 7000 WA Mechanical Metamorphosis Converter _is situated. The two friends walk down to the machine.

"Ryan is taking a vacation in this city. After what apparently happened in his territory he will be keeping in touch with Jerry. Jerry just happens to conduct his experiments in the underground laboratories in this city. So the two will likely discuss the occurrences whenever they meet." The probe taps the black keyboard to initiate the MMC. Now the loudness of the cylinders force Eve to raise her voice. "Since I cannot tap his communication devices, I have planned to spy him."

"Spy him?!" Jeremy shouts, trying to muffle out the noise by semi-covering his ears.

"Yes. I am morphing into a human."

"What?!" Jeremy somehow did not see this coming. The thought of Eve spying one of the most sociopathic men as a human is preposterous. "What about your-"

"Fear not! I've tried this many times. The metamorphosis will not intervene with it."

"Damn it, Eve! You should have told me earlier!"

"Oh, sorry." The capsule opens. Two doors slide away and steam floods out.

**Foreign Material Removed.**

**Mechanical Metamorphosis Countdown Initiated. **

**Thirty Seconds Before Launching Sequence.** **00:30**

"Will you help me?" Eve says.

"Of course."

"Hit the switch when it is done."

Eve hovers inside the capsule. She accommodates herself inside a void; white straps hold her head and arms down.

**Sequence Initiated. **

**All Authorized Personnel Please Stand Back.**

Glass windows reveal her inundated by a yellow foam. The machine recoils the capsule and begins to revolve. Sparks of electricity buzz and ominous shadows flicker everywhere. The noise is unbearable for Jeremy. It's as if a bomb is about to explode. The GUN-RS storm inside and seize Jeremy, taking cover behind the electricity generators.

"It's gonna explode!"

Without warning, the machine stops.

**Sequence Completed.**


	12. Chapter 11: Predator

**Chapter 11**

**---****  
**

**-Predator-**

**---  
**

"Damn it! Eve! Are you okay?!"

Smoke circles throughout the laboratory, blocking visibility of the machine and Eve. Covering his nose and flapping smoke away, Jeremy sprints to the machine; the GUN-RS follow. As he is about to open the capsule, a humanoid silhouette becomes apparent through the window. Jeremy stands back, grinning, feeling relief and amazed after what he has witnessed.

**Subject Exiting Cradle. Have a Humanly Day.**

Fans above blow away the smoke into ventilation ducts. His sight returns. The GUN-RS rush to cover the naked woman standing in the platform. Jeremy turns away, face redder than blood, but is nevertheless astonished.

One of the GUN-RS grabs a grimy towel from the tool rack and hands it to Eve.

"My apologies ma'am, it is what we have available for now. But we will search for a clean one."

"Worry not." Eve says, wrapping the towel on her body, feeling the warmth and greasy friction. "Thank you." She never demands the best of the best just because she is the leader of the world. She is a leader, not a ruler, not a queen, not a monarch, not a god, just a leader. Nonetheless, a leader with privileges.

"Can I look now?" Jeremy says, body trembling from the excitement.

"You may look Jeremy."

Vanilla hair cascades down like soft buttercups in bloom and covers her blue eyes. What a sight for Jeremy. Marveling at her arms and hands, inspired by her body's proportions, she sashays over to him, who is equally bewildered.

"See?"

Eyes popped open, his jaw drops. "I—wha-, how the?"

"Had you not said you've known of this metamorphosis before?"

"Yeah, but I've never witnessed it! Especially without a warning!"

"Well, now you have."

Human Eve strides to the GUN-RS. "Have the MMC technicians ensure proper maintenance of the machine. The BTU-789 was deficient. "

"Certainly ma'am." The behemoths give Eve a farewell salute and exit the laboratory. Jeremy hears a buzzing near the MMC and rips out the paper that slid out.

"No consumption of comestibles, no prolonged submersion in water, no using your plasma cannon, no drinking liquids, no intercourse, no—damn! This goes on forever!" He crumbles the paper and tosses it away. "You didn't need that, did you?"

"Not at all." Eve says, marching behind a dressing curtain. "Like I said, I've done this many times."

The man leans against a sewer pipe, unaware of the grassy water dripping on his shoulders. A mixture of moss and human excretions. "All right," Jeremy says. "Any more surprises? No? Good. Now take me through your plan and stop vexing me with your scientific verbiage! Seriously, I'm just a soldier."

Giggling from his humorous remarks, she begins, "Ryan is here in the city." Eve pauses, brushing her hair into waves. "So I will follow him wherever he goes. Hopefully Jerry will be meeting him soon."

"But where are we gonna find him first?"

"Every time Ryan visits he goes to a gentleman's club, about three miles from here."

"How typical." Jeremy says, smiling and springing from the pipe, realizing of the mess on his shoulders. "Damn it." He says, scooping up the gooey matter off and splashing it on the floor. "Tell your guards the pipes need fixing too."

Eve dashes out of the dressing curtain. "Why, what is wrong?"

Speechless, Jeremy stares at Eve dressed in a white skirt and tube top. Her gorgeous physique knocks the wind out of him.

"I'm the one going in the strip club right?" Jeremy asks, lips fluctuating. "Because the men in there are gonna give you a hard time."

"I can handle them." Eve's strength remains in her. But she hopes not to need it. "Are you okay?" She asks, pulling her skirt to rid it of the creases, leaning forward to ensure the heels can support her weight. "Jeremy?"

"Huh?—yeah! I'm good." Jeremy's never felt like this about a white woman-- That is, of her beauty, not amorousness. "Should we go?"

"Yes. I shall clear you of the plan while we walk."

* * *

The mission: Carry out espionage on Ryan and successfully have him confess the truth of the events in the Alaskan fields. Eve and Jeremy leave the laboratory and board an elevator that takes them 3,000 floors down to a visitor's lobby, and they board another elevator there that takes them 1,440 floors to the main floor of the Colosseum. It only took 24 minutes. The two exit the Colosseum and walk straight to a sentry building. The day is cool with mild winds disturbing Eve's hair and cooling Jeremy's bright scalp. Humvees and Patrol units of choppers and scooters guard the area since yesterday's incident. A few forensic investigators here and there collecting samples of evidence. After identifying themselves, they pass the security gates and head to a TAX-E parked in a launch base, ready to fly Eve and Jeremy to the distant city.

Inside the aircraft Eve stares at the tessellations of humans, ground and aerodynamic vehicles, and monorails transporting passengers to their undeserved fruitions, all woven together to compliment each other in ensuring balance of the system. How gratuitous. They may not be warmongers, but they are in ignorance too. They live for today, preoccupied with insignificant activities and oblivious of the intangible notions of existence to which they succumb and spread like a virus. It is possible to break away from them, but it is inevitable to free ones' self from the clutches of existence. Slaves we are to it forever. It is a beast with its legions of tentacles generated by humans and universal axioms and much more of which we do not know. It holds us in a pleasant motion that has us deem as pleasant, with delicacies like a sunset or love and inevitabilities such as human behavior and blind inclinations, or it strangulates us in torment and adversity to keep us helpless and despondent, with calamities like poverty or emotional hardship.

Either way we exist. Either way we're controlled.

Eve has tried, for a long time, to keep those realizations from flooding her mind. Those truths give nothing but emptiness.

"You okay?" Jeremy asks. Seeing her head down from sadness concerns him.

"I'm okay."

"No hallucinations or anything like that, right?"

"Right."

The TAX-E lands in a terrain where more of the aircrafts descend alongside and others ascend above. Behind lies the Colosseum, it is a mountain in the horizon. One could see it from hundreds of kilometers away. Ahead is the terminal where Eve and Jeremy must go to receive their citizens identification codes. Beyond that colossal edifices extend from the sky. Decorated by chrome plating and hanging gardens that give them not only aesthetic but also symbolism of human and robot reverence to a green Earth, these buildings are home for workers of non-physical labor and humans who reside in the city. This is the human dominated side of the city. The robot side of the city is around 2 miles from here, and the gentleman's club is located on the outskirts of said side.

The two friends stand in line for the ID codes. It is short, and the people ahead of them work in the Colosseum, from security guards to gardeners, but issuing the ID codes takes some time.

Jeremy leans close to Eve, whispering in her ear. "Could've worn something more modest." She turns and stares, raising an eyebrow. Modesty is not common in a robot's mind. But she knows what he means.

"I am curious as to what Wall-e would think."

After receiving their ID codes they exit the terminal. Welcome to the city life, where everyone is everyone doing nothing of importance. The skyscrapers stretch out to the white sky, timbers for the hanging gardens and social gatherings of extravagant humans. In every corner there is life moving about, dressed in the finest clothing money can buy to the rags of a vagabond that begs for charity. In this society you either do your part or face social and economic exclusion. Hovercrafts zoom around the silver roads and the monorail flies by every three minutes. Hard to believe this was a barren wasteland twelve hundred years ago.

Eve and Jeremy walk among the crowds of humans and robots. The two races try to maintain separate, both quiet and indifferent as city dwellers can be. There is no stopping in this swarm of people, for none will bother to compromise their walking for another person. They will shove aside or trample one just to continue. Mindless drones.

At the traffic light the crowd stops to yield for the vehicles. Eve admires the life around her and Jeremy scrutinizes the sky after feeling a drop of water dab his scalp.

"Just a few more blocks?" Jeremy asks.

"Correct." Eve notices a yellow material seeping out of the shoe from the man in front of her. It's mucous with black blood balls dangling inside. Taking a deep breath, she turns away, eyes closed, to prevent another seizure.

Jeremy sees her. "You okay?"

Eve presses her eyelids shut with her fingers, shrugging from the chilly wind, about to lose it again."I think I am having another seizure."

"Damn. Keep your eyes closed." Grabbing her right arm, "I'll lead you."

Red light flickers and the traffic of vehicles stop. The crowd advances to the other street. Jeremy leads Eve, who sweats and pants trying to remain calm. The boisterous streets of vehicles roaring and honking and people talking only add to her nervousness. Now they arrive at the other side, and ahead a small crowd of people descend from the stairs of the monorail terminal.

"Oh shit!" Jeremy slams Eve and himself against a wall, hiding behind a street post.

Sweating, with fingers on her eyes, Eve asks, "What is wrong?"

"It's Ryan!"

"What?!"

"He was coming down from the monorail stairs."

"Curse him!"

"Damn. He knows who I am. I can't go on. You're gonna have to follow him."

"But what if I have the seizure?"

"I'm gonna be following from way behind. He don't know you're you, so you can follow him." A quick gander from behind the post, Ryan walks down away in the direction of the club. "Open your eyes and go!"

Eve does as he orders. Fortunately the seizure has gone, for now.

* * *

Closer and closer she gets to him. The old man walks like everyone else: Without a care in the world. She observes his every move, from spitting on the ground to shoving away beggars to the thrash cans. Filthy robots clean the insubstantial streets from the litter and robotic waste, hinting of the proximity of the robot side of the city. Ryan refers to it as the robot ghetto due to the poorly kempt buildings and streets that resemble a 21st century minority county. This may get problematic for both Eve and Ryan as there are warmongers in this side of town. The sight of humans becomes scarce.

Ryan walks down an avenue known for the residency of robotic families, but not very good families so to speak. Eve follows from 4 houses behind. Then the old man stands near a bus stop.

Eve squints, eyes fixed on him. "What are you...No!"

A bus passes by Eve and stops next to Ryan. He boards it. Eve dashes for it, but too late. He took the bus to avoid trouble. Now it is she who will face imminent trouble.

"Hey, what you doing here human?!" Androids and hydraulic beasts stare at the human Eve as she walks down their apartment homes. Contempt and prejudice fill the lenses of the machines. Two sewer workers lay eyes on Eve as she passes them, looking at her lavish clothes.

One of them follows her and shakes his fist. "Hey! I work hard for a living and the best I get to wear is a goddamn copper chest! You probably some office whore! Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Ignoring him was her best strategy. To her dismay there is a mass of robots celebrating someone's birthday. They occupy an entire street block, and they are in _every_ square foot of land. Many of them make way for the human and some frown upon her. Voices whisper hateful words of malcontent. If only they knew it was their fellow leader.

Her hand trembles, eyes palpitate, sweat runs down from her back and forehead. To avoid more bigotry Eve cuts through an alley. It is as humid as a jungle but filthier. Images of dead humans and gore pop up inside her head. It has begun again. Perplexed and frightened she staggers and decides to stop. A bulky android that followed her approaches.

"Hey!" He says, grabbing her by the arms and slamming her against the brick wall, causing a crevice, fragments and red dust fall. "You're in the wrong town." Eve feels no pain from his attack. The hallucination causes more excruciation. To her, the android is an abominable horror crushing her, preventing her escape. It spits yellow slime on her, some drips from his feet. Red skies pour the organic bile and sear everything they touch. Some blood pours down too. Minions of hell have risen.

"Answer me!" Seeing her unresponsive to his attacks angers the beast, especially her vacant eyes.

"Answer me now—Ah!"

The beast falls to the ground. Tasered. Jeremy draws away his weapon and helps Eve rise. Looking into her eyes. "Eve! Are you okay?!" She appears to be dead. Not a single breath, but she is a robot. Suddenly her pupils reappear.

He sighs. "You scared me!"

The woman gazes at the shocked android. "What happened?"

"That son of a bitch tried to hurt you."

"Did you hurt him?"

"Just shocked his ass."

"Oh, how lucky was I for having you."

"Don't mention it. I'm not taking my eyes off you anymore. We're definitely going to see Dr. Hammahn tomorrow." Looking at his watch, Jeremy leads Eve out of the alley and back on the streets. Dizziness and confusion have made Eve disoriented, but she still knows the mission.

"You're a mess. Clean yourself with this." He hands her a green handkerchief. She wipes grime and sweat from her skirt, head and underarms.

"Thank you." Eve says, holding the wet handkerchief to his face.

"Uh...you can keep it. Come on, let's go." Ryan is nowhere to be seen, but they have a hunch he's already in the club.

The gentleman's club, notorious for wealthy patrons and exotic dancers who demand more money than the clients have in their pockets, is right ahead, brightened by neon signs and festival bulbs, for sunlight in the outskirts of the robot ghetto is blotted out by the Colosseum and the skyscrapers. Drunk men stammer out with a woman or two, others kiss by the dark corners, some rush to the nearest garbage can to vomit. Sights like Eve arouse the lewd animals. Not her beauty, her voluptuousness.

"We made it." Jeremy scans the area for signs of Ryan or Jerry.

"I guess this is it." Eve says, swinging her arms from the adrenaline rushing inside her body.

"Go in." Jeremy says, hugging her and giving her money to get in. "I'd better leave. We don't know if Jerry's here yet. I'll come back with a ride."

"Do not return. We cannot risk Ryan seeing you." For last minute touches Eve brushes the red crumbs of the bricks from her hair and clothes.

"I'm not leaving you. What if you have another hallucination?"

"Please..." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she purrs words of friendship. "Trust me."

Her feminine sensations becalm his inquietude. "Yeah. Okay. I trust you."

Worried for her wellbeing, he cannot stop looking at his best friend. He wishes he could go in with her. Poor probe has faced much adversity. Eve prepares herself, wonders to the ticket booth.

"Eve!" Jeremy calls her before she disappears inside.

"Yes?" Her curious eyes shift from him to the men passing her.

"Be careful."

A bar full of pigs and tramps. This will be easy. Maybe.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Happy Anniversary to WALL**• **E! Yay! I still remember that Friday. The day was humid and the clouds added to the gloom. I still have that blue watch, compliments for those who went to see the premier. But who cares! I can't believe it's been one year. Yes, I know I'm one day late for the celebration, but it's never too late to show your appreciation for something you love. I have entered in the WALL• E Anniversary Fanfic Contest, so wish me luck! This is so exciting.**

**-SPOILER ALERT-**

**This is to clear up some things in this chapter:**

**Yes, Eve has morphed into a human woman. She did it to spy on Ryan in hopes of him revealing the truth of the events in the Alaskan fields where, unfortunately, Trent died. We know that Ryan lied to her about what really happened. I won't tell why (That's the surprise) but Eve had her suspicions. **

**Jeremy is not in love with human Eve. He's just astonished by her beauty. Just to let you know if you thought he was.**

**-SPOILERS END HERE-**

**So how is the story so far? Is it good, weird, unexpected, sad, flawed? Please let me know. If you understand everything in my story, you have no idea what's coming. The twists later on will shock you.**


	13. Chapter 12: Luscious Vanities

**A/N: **I am so sorry for the long wait. It's been almost two months since the last chapter update! Well, I've just finished writing and editing this chapter in the date of Saturday, August 22, at 8:51 pm PT. I'm so relieved! Now I can take a break of sitting in a car for two days non-stop for a road trip! Yes, I wrote this chapter in CA. My family and I came to visit our relatives for two weeks. Now we leave, tomorrow! So I struggled to get this chapter out before leaving.

Soon I'm going to draw some of this story's memorable scenes, like the sunset and the piano scenes. I'll have some links on my profile to the drawings, so check them out. I'll let everyone know when I have a scene drawn in the next chapters.

I'll also take requests if anybody wants me to draw them something **Wall-e related**. Just ask! Besides, I don't have many things to do.

Now here is chapter 12. It is possibly the most difficult chapter I've written, and it may be difficult for some to understand. Don't be discouraged, in this chapter we will finally get an insight on Ryan and Eve's past; what happened between them and his philosophies. Also, the many epiphanies Eve has experienced during her centuries of life and loving Wall-e. The content of this chapter will also hint of Ryan's future actions.

For the month of September, I will update this story weekly or biweekly, depending on chapter length, so that we may finally reach the first half of the story. It's about 21 chapters away now, so I'd better get on it. Don't make me abandon this story altogether. Tell me what you think.

Again, I'm sorry for the long wait and I hope you all keep up with my story.

Enjoy:

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**-Luscious Vanities-**

What a party! Libidinous patrons indulge in alcohol and satisfy carnal desires, seductive women feed the needs of men, trance music echoes throughout, and the fog from the cigars of smokers creeps everywhere. Such debauchery still blazes on after centuries when it was pointless hedonism. Granted, it is ecstasy. They care not if it's primeval or degrading. So good it feels.

A woman pushes through crowds of oversexed men, feeling their putrid hands slap her buttocks. The childish whistling and obscene remarks enter her ears, but as the wise probe she has become after centuries of studying these animals, Eve ignores them.

"Hi beautiful!" One drunkard clutching a banknote and martini steps in front of Eve, but the avalanche of dancers and patrons sweep him away. Such a beautiful among these men is uncommon, significantly one whose alluring body incites something far more pleasing than lust.

Now a drunkard drenched in sweat and Nebula eau de cologne embraces Eve's hips. "You and me babe."

Twitchy eye hints an irritated probe. The drunk man grins, exposing his crooked teeth. "This might hurt, human."

"Oh!" The man drops to the floor, hands over his groin. His pitched crying matches up to the music for all to hear. The rest of the men make way for the woman and cover their groins. Make way for the woman who does not tolerate harassment. As she strides she keeps an eye out for Ryan. Scanners sweep through hundreds of faces, but no matches here on the ground level of the nightclub. A rhinestone-plated stairway leads to the balcony where Ryan may just be. Up she walks.

The ambience in the balcony is eerie; a touch of nighttime woods lit by torches, where the uncertainties are as endless as the possibilities. There is even a small bar serving eclectic beverages. To Eve, this feels much like a dream; she moves without much consent. Maybe the noise and lights interfere with her robotic systems of periphery. Lucky for her, Ryan is sitting alone in a booth, close to the ledge of the balcony. Here he seems to gaze down on the patrons, either observing and reporting or judging them in his mind. In front of him lies a plate of chocolate-dipped peaches, with the broth of fondu next to his drained martini vase.

Odd, but Eve feels lightheaded. Her hands shake and sweat trickles down her chest. Now she's not certain if she can confront him. Of all the times to argue. Oddly enough she fears him, and coupled with the boisterous humans and corruptible lights, this feels like a stupefied sleepwalk. Her legs lead her forward closer to the old man. The more she realizes of the little control she has with her body movements, the more susceptible she becomes to panic. She takes a detour to the bar. There she will try to relax and focus.

"What will you have?" The female bartender asks Eve. The probe is ignorant of her, for she is busy trying to get a gaze at Ryan. Behind the cover of her hair Eve tries to sneak a peek, but her furtive attempt is revealed by the woman.

"Hey!" The bartender's hand slams the counter, startling Eve. "What-will-you-have?"

"Oh! I am sorry. Pink gin will be all."

The bartender leaves and Eve once again hides behind her hair to get a glimpse of Ryan. Blue eyes shine from the lights above, and it seems Ryan has noticed. His eyes meet Eve's. She looks away, afraid he may have noticed. There is something about Ryan that frightens those around him, and it's more than his sickening appearance of an insomniac alcoholic.

"Here princess." A vase with pink alcohol reaches Eve's hand. For now she will act casual to draw away Ryan's attention. Vase clutched between her slender fingers, and sweat stinging her eyes, the woman pretends to sip her beverage, smiling at the female bartender who stares with empty expressions.

"Hey!" A voice hollers. So familiar it sounds to Eve.

"You!" Eve lowers her head, staring into the pink liquid. Now she knows whose voice it is.

"Lady in the white!"

She cannot hide any longer. Clearly Ryan is calling her. She turns to him. "Yes?"

"Wanna come here?" Ryan asks, reclining his arms on the cushions.

Eve mutters her response, giggling out of nervousness: "Is it not common for a man to approach the woman?"

Snickering, Ryan rises, shaking off bread crumbs from his suit and taking his peaches and drink. "Okay. I'm coming." This is not common of him. He'd usually insult a woman and leave if she responded like Eve, but the probe is not just any woman. He approaches Eve with his martini and peaches on hands. Were it not for the suit, Ryan would appear like a retired elder, and he would lack the confidence to approach such a gorgeous woman like Eve.

"Hey." Ryan sits on the stool next to Eve and lays his items on the counter. "My name's Ryan." His sophisticated disposition of taking Eve's hand and kissing it is unexpected. Again she smiles from nervousness. This is how he would greet her and other women ages ago.

"Honored. I am..." Eve is quick to make a lie. "Dr. Jennifer White."

"Dr.? White? What kind of doctor?"

"Counselor."

"Like a psychiatrist?"

"You might say."

"Well, nice to meet you doctor." The man scans around, then he turns back to Eve. The woman jitters and perspires, jaw shaking too as if she were cold. "Anyway, I saw you looking at me."

Eve's heart pounds like a bomb. "Oh, I am sorry!"

"Don't worry. I'm honored to call the attention of a tough woman like you."

"Tough woman?"

"Yeah, you kicked that animal in the balls, right?"

"Oh," she grins, "yes. He should have controlled himself."

"No one messes with the miss." Ryan chuckles. Eve forces a smile.

"So," Ryan says, "what's a female doctor doing in a gentleman's club? You a lesbian—and I'm just asking to not look like a jerk."

"No. I... I was meeting someone here, but he did not show."

"Who, If I may ask."

"A friend."

"I see. Guess what? I was meeting someone here too, but he calls me at the last minute for a change of plans."

"My! We seem to count on the unreliable. A toast." Eve rises her gin; Ryan does the same too. "To the unreliable!"

Young and vibrant the day is turning. The silver liquid for kings pouring down into their diamond vessels, exuberant partyers frittering away their representations of labor and primeval gratification make the most stressed of men feel as if their quotidian worries have vanished into the abyss. Minutes pass like provisioned alcohol and Ryan's misanthropic mood sleeps while his inebriated side takes control; it is more pleasant and encourages him to intimate discussion. Eve can relax now, knowing the dog is on a leash. With nostalgic fervor intruding about in the minds of both and the soft side of Ryan present, they can also converse, but the noisy men and noise called music are a never-ending pest.

"So," Eve says, smiling and showing her white teeth, "of what should we speak?"

"I don't know," Ryan says, cheek resting on his dry palm, insomniac eyes staring back and forth between Eve and the partyers. "Are we gonna— are we gonna have to force small talk? Because I hate doing that. Only idiots with- without imagination do that. Stupid social chit chat. Heh."

"Not at all. I myself find it foolish. We can speak of relevant matters. Philosophy perhaps? Eugenics? Politics like leader EVE?"

Ryan scoffs. "Ha! That woman can't do anything to stop the violence. She's as useless as her overpriced militaries."

How unexpected. Ryan loves to be himself even with women with whom he tries to flirt. Being the leader of this world, and to hear such slander, does nothing but incite curiosity as to why the person thinks as such in Eve.

"Hmm, really? How?"

"Well," taking a sip and sighing, Ryan continues, "I should know. After all, believe it or not, I'm close to her, and I know how her system of civility and bureaucracy function."

"Really? Eve asks, raising an eyebrow. "How close? Custodian of the ten thousandth floor?"

Ryan's lips vibrate in humor. "Real funny, but I was once general scientist for her research divisions; you know, invent this and experiment with that. It was a magnificent experience, one only the intelligent liberated from normality can savor, plus I contributed to this world. But then she, uh, then she terminated me and made me head archeologist for one of her private corporations."

"My!" Eve exclaims, chin rested on her palms, squealing her voice. But the lack of motion on her face and eyes betray her in appearing surprised. "This is quite an honor.. It is not every day I meet men like you."

"Well," Ryan's cheeks rise, "now it ain't a big deal. It's boring work, really. All I do is supervise and report findings. Not fun at all."

"I see." So far so good. Now, if Eve wants to remain absconded then she must do what she believes humans do. "May I ask as to the reason for your termination?"

"You just asked." Ryan chuckles, taking a chunk out of chocolate peach with his old teeth. "I conducted unauthorized experiments and because of that some engineers died."

The woman sighs, aware of how that incident turned out. "Then I guess it's justified." She hands him gin to take this opportunity of exploring him. It's not like him to be this open, especially with someone he has met for only ten minutes.

"Thanks," Ryan raises the glass to her and sips the pink fluid, swooshing it inside his peach-filled cheeks. "Ah...that is precious. Makes me glad to be human instead of a machine. Now, about the thing: You could say it's justified, but look at it this way: 'Because of their "sacrifices" we saved more than twenty years in AI development for AIs.'"

"But human lives are worth more than twenty years. This world could have afforded even another forty years-"

"Oh, but that's the problem! Eve pressured us to get it done as soon as possible. We told her it was risky, we did, but she pressured us!" Ryan's voice becomes harsh like that of a bitter hag. "She cost me days of sleep and the lives of good men." Quite true. Eve had pressured them to complete the research so much, but she never thought that was a method of sacrificing lives. "And yet we didn't get the job finished in her time frame. But now a million new lives have spawned from their deaths." Ryan straightens himself, spins to his right, frowning his already rugged face at the masses with his maroon eyes of a devil. "But what pisses me off is that Eve didn't want to let it go. Come on! Experiments and scientific voyages into the unknown are life-threatening endeavors. The deceased personnel and Eve knew that, but I guess because it was unauthorized, Eve had an excuse."

If Eve were not in disguise she'd reveal her true motives for removing Ryan. "Yes, that is true, but if it is an unnecessary risk then avoid it."

"But it accomplished what she pressured us to aim for every day. Look, it's not even about that incident and my removal. It's the thought that matters, the unbelievable things I did for her. You've no idea." Spinning around to the counter-table, he lowers his head, resting it upon his palm. "She forgot about the many things I did for her. Sometimes I wish to have died in that accident."

No, she is not buying into this nonsense of which he speaks. This is not him. Either this Ryan is an impostor or the alcohol has infiltrated the obscure side of him. But then again, she does not know him well on personal levels. There is nothing she has to rebuke his confession.

"Look." Ryan raises his head and gazes into Eve. He was not weeping; the alcohol had merely dizzied him. "I'm going to tell you the true and essential reason why I despise Eve, why I am what I am. This I've told only my friend Jerry and some bum in a subway. I think he was dead, but I couldn't tell since all bums stink like death. Still, I will tell you because I haven't spoken with a counselor for a long time. I'll pay for your drink if you hear me out. Plus you seem like a nice lady. Interested?"

"Oh, Certainly. I am quite interested."

After taking one last martini shot, Ryan slouches, ready to open up. "About sixty years ago I joined EVE's scientist recruitment and appointment programs. It was an attempt to encourage us biologists and physicists and roboticians to work in military projects later on. Some of us contributed more than others and some contributed in special ways. For that matter we were allowed privileges civilians were denied. They envied us us a lot, the lesser classes. But I didn't give a shit what inferior minds thought of us. We were the gifted and no one could take that from us. I kept creating things like plasma armor and blade grenades to impress the military; they were speechless with some of my work."

The noise of drunkards and music continues in the background. At this time Ryan orders another martini. Eve orders another gin and poses like a female psychiatrist., but not that there's such thing.

"Ten years later the leader of the world herself met with us in a ceremony honoring the men of science. It was a good day to allow our brains rest. It was a day that would relieve us from fervor, but not me. That was the day I fell in love with EVE. One minute I'm deep in sycophantic talk, then I turn around and the wind is knocked right out of me. There she stood, the beautiful probe; artificial blue eyes that outdid those of a human woman. You know, her grace is the one and only thing I admire about her. Too bad the mind I loathe controls that body."

"So," Eve says, "you fell in love with her the first time you met her? What did you think about being attracted to a probe robot?"

"I thought it was unexpected of me at first, but I knew I wasn't the only human male who desired her. I've heard some men who claim to have liked her for sexual purposes, and others for intimate relationships, like me."

If Eve had more blood flow, she'd blush. Wall-e has made her feel beautiful before, but not with words. Besides, how could he? "Very well, continue."

Ryan continues: "For the next fifteen years I collaborated in the AI Reconstruction and Development Program. I did everything to help, but mostly to impress EVE. I'd stay up day and night working on my assigned tasks and even perfect the work of my colleagues. It feels like it's only been yesterday, but the results will last forever. It baffles me how love can make a person do the unthinkable, both positive and negative actions." Ryan sips some martini. "Moving on. After countless nights of sleep deprivation, I did it. Not what EVE hoped to accomplish, but it was something that would get us closer there. I had finally concocted a prototype of the AI impregnation network. I had much to improve and add, but we were closer. They threw a big party in my honor. Some jokers kept saying I was Albert Einstein's descendant. But my cake came when EVE herself showed up and invited me for dinner in her Tower. I think you know how I'd react to that!"

Ryan stops when two drunkards break out in a fight over irrelevant matters. It's between a wealthy but unknown entrepreneur and the son of prestigious socialite Mark Hansen. Security push through the crowd to separate the two. An entertaining spectacle, yet Eve is too nervous to notice since Ryan is right here reopening the wounds of the past.

"Animals," Ryan scoffs. "Allow me to continue: The night of the dinner had come. I dressed up nicer than in my mother's funeral. I had bought some jasmines for Eve. As white as her sleek and provocative body they were. I was escorted by her private aerial patrol, and I got a breathtaking view of her Tower. Heh, It wasn't as exciting as entering the beast. You could feel as if a monster from hell ascended and swallowed you alive. But the rush of adrenaline dissipated when the gorgeous woman greeted me outside in the cavern corridors. She wore a black nightgown and silk gloves, and on her head stood a buttercup. Forgive my French, but I almost creamed myself!

Eve forces out a chuckle. This is a bit unpleasant, but life is never pure. This feels like a dream nevertheless. Ryan has opened up to another human being, and revealed some unlikely memoirs.

"Care to continue?" She hands him more gin. Ryan stutters like a rag doll.

"Damn! That's strong!" The old man settles down and proceeds: "Then we— or should I say, I ate. We spoke of things smart people speak. You know, the problem with the bureaucratic system that slipped through in capital punishment, scientific experimentation on humans, uh... there wasn't much happening back then.. After eating she invited me to her room balcony. The moon was full at the time, and we figured it could be a magnificent way to develop a friendship.. Yes, I remember the nighttime." Ryan grins, gazing up at the ceiling, lost in thought. "It was wonderful. It was like having a different kind of orgasm, but one that embellished your soul in the starry sky and took you on a voyage of wonderment across the universe. A voyage where you could free your mind from the laws of nature and man and perceive the unfathomable uncertainties, you know, get a brief taste of what lies hundreds, perhaps millions of years ahead."

How rare and unimaginable. Such a man like him with such an enlightened spirit. Eve cannot help let his words capture her in a whirlwind of inspiration and perception. Both of them sit without motion, awe-struck by the notion delivered through Ryan.

"Now comes the occurrence that changed me. Imagine: An unexplainable fervor has entered your mind and body. You are liberated from the limitations and notions and axioms and laws and all that holds us down into this reality of existence. You no longer fear, you no longer cower. Now imagine how open I was to reveal to EVE my feelings toward her. I planted a kiss on her glossy lips. It was the greatest moment of my life. Whenever I can I capture that moment and rejoice, but what happens after breaks my ecstasy."

"What happens after you kiss her?"

"Next thing I'm lying on the floor with blood on my cheek. That's how I got this scar." Ryan expands the mark on his right cheek. It has followed him ever since. The man pauses; Eve freezes, remembering that night. Now this is a time for both to remember that happening which changed everything between Eve and Ryan.

_A full moon in the azure sky illuminated the earth below, and in one of the balconies stood a man and a probe._

"_Please forgive me! I did not mean to offend you!" A handsome gentleman stood in front of Eve, covering his gashed cheek._

"_By the gods! How could you?!" Eve's voice was in the same tone as the time Wall-e had been crushed.. Her eyes were in despair, poor woman. "I— look what you've made me do!"_

_Ryan tried to calm Eve, but she would not allow him closer. "I'm not hurt. Look, I'm so sorry! I-"_

"_I am a married woman! Why ever would you do that?"_

"_I love you!" The man drops to his knees, staring up at the mercy of Eve. "I love you..."_

_Blue eyes filled with pity looked down. The fervor was too overwhelming. "Forgive me, Ryan. But I do not feel the same for you."_

"_But, I-" Jaw dropped, the eyes of a dog after being caught stealing._

"_Please leave. I do not want to cause you more harm."_

"Oh!" Ryan regains focus, worried the woman lost interest. "Well, after that night my life changed. Everybody learned about the mishap and I was granted the name 'smoochie.' I began to abuse alcohol. You can't imagine the humiliation and the sadness. For years onward I became isolated and careless. Everybody feared and hated me. If you'd seen the tantrums I threw over little things, wow." Ryan leans closer to Eve, whispering his words that smell of alcohol. "I had even worked on a side project of my own. I was working to find a way to give robots the ability to feel sexual desire and pleasures. The money for the research came out of my pockets, but I wanted to add a new joy to the life of robots and machines. It wasn't some sick intent so I and other humans could mate with machines, no. I did it for Eve. Even if she had rejected me, I would have let her have my invention so that she and Wall-e could enjoy their love life more. Her happiness would have been my happiness, but after her overreaction, I destroyed my research, all of it. It would only have been a few more months until it was possible. So there you have it. Eve shattered my heart, my pride, and everything else I had. It took me years and so many sacrifices to f***ing build my name up from the ground, to matter. Then along came Eve and took it away." The man is left airless, tired from his alcohol binge and insomnia. "They ruined me," he chuckles, "so I guess I'll stop there."

"My..." Vehemence still lingers in Eve. Yes, it's all too soon for her. "I'm sorry to hear such tragedies."

"Nah, I got used to being a sociopath." Revelations she has found indeed.

"I must know, how did she change you?"

"Well, because of her I have a different outlook on my existence. Now I don't know what I want. For what to strive or for what to die. Oh yeah," he nods, "she changed me."

A teardrop splashes on Eve's skirt. She tries to contain her emotions, and yet she weeps for a man who has done horrible things to her.

"I'm sorry. I can be a bit emotive sometimes."

"Hey," Ryan says, smiling, "you were listening. I thought you stopped after I phased out."

A smooth hand places itself on a rugged hand, how Eve feels sympathy for him now. This is a side of him she never knew. How she wishes to reconciliate with him. Now that she remembers, a part of her has wanted to do so ever since he changed. Ryan, the Ryan she once knew, died that night. After that, he became something else.

"I hope one day you find a mind like yours."

"Doubt it. I'm like an alien, but thank you."

Eve wipes tears away with her fingernail. "I'm sure if you told her these things she might reconsider."

"Oh," Ryan releases his hand from her, "It's too late for that now." Ryan's voice becomes hoarse; malicious, hinting of his sudden mood shift. "We are far from repairable. Sure, she broke my heart, but the void was filled with hatred. She changed me in other ways besides the alcohol abuse and the antisocial behavior."

"How?" Lips tremble, worried eyes stare into the man and hands clutched around her shoulders.

The old man's finger points at the massive crowd of partyers and indulgent waste. "Look at them, living out their lives like there's nothing better. When they could be doing something proactive, according to the axiom of social progress, they choose to engorge themselves with pleasantries, letting their primeval instincts take control since their minds are too weak to perceive the reality beyond all this futile nonsense. They are ignorant of the many unknown forces and notions and factors that control and influence their minds."

It seems Ryan has returned, or the alcohol has dissipated from his blood.

"Then why are you here indulging?" Now Eve must be ready to argue.

"Hey, you can't escape the things that drag you down to this existence. You can only acknowledge. I acknowledge my primitivity and allow it to influence my being to a limited degree. The differences between me and them are plenty: They're short-sighted animals; I'm something beyond what this system has taught them to comprehend. And hey, what if my positive work is somehow used for further control of the masses in the future? There's no damn escape. We are deluded in our own existence."

"Hmm, you have me a bit vexed. But you don't seem happy with those observations."

"Happiness is rare in intelligent people. The more intelligent you are, the more you realize how intellectually inferior you really are. You realize that happiness is a deceitful emotion that controls you and allows the delusion of hope to blind you from the inevitable truth: We are blind creatures trapped by this physical construct and ourselves."

"So you are not happy?"

"Yeah. When you liberate yourself from the emotions and instincts and look beyond the inevitabilities, you don't know what to do. Whatever you do, there is no escape from the system. Independence is a lie. And then you stop worrying about quotidian duties and death itself. You don't know what is the truth. You see fellow humans tear at each other, all because of blind choices based on fervor and other factors we might never acknowledge."

Eve is speechless, bewildered by all, the things she has known from living so long but has struggled to ignore. "Wow, you are a thinker. One does not see that much anymore in this world. Volatile observations of the world and reality you hold, and though I do not want to admit it, you are correct with some of your viewpoints. Humans are primitive animals, and they might always be. I was harassed by some men on my way inside, and yet I understood that we are human." Eve points to the crowds. "Those humans need a hope that will lead them to the unperceived answers waiting. If we only despaired and complained about our existence, then we would never advance. And who knows? Maybe the system and intangible factors of which I am unaware influence in my thinking, but perhaps they and the physical construct serve as blue prints of life and they guide us through existence."

"Wow, I never thought beautiful women were thinkers. I guess you're the only one. What a shame people like us have to live with these degenerates. There's no reasoning with these idiots.."

"How?"

"On my personal experience, whenever I tell them how their emotions and intangible factors control them, and how they have vague concepts of reality or themselves, they deny it and call me a liar. They want proof. Here's your proof: Figure it out for yourself! But they claim I feel superior. Idiots defending their precious system. It just frustrates me when they won't open their damn eyes. I'm not trying to put them down."

"Have you been tactful when you speak of these things?"

"Shit yeah. If I wasn't then it'd be worse for me. I'm being nice right now, wouldn't you say?"

Baffling Ryan's claim is to Eve. Ryan is never tactful with anybody, or at least anybody whom she knows. But that is only when he is angry or drunk, not when he speaks of these things. "Yes, you are. But not all humans are selfish pigs. Even those corrupted can be changed. All one needs is determination."

"Better said extermination." Ryan wipes his forehead. "Haven't you paid attention to what I've said? Sure, not all of them are pigs, but their descendants might not follow in their footsteps. It's an endless cycle of control and corruption. Those who say murdering children is wrong have been brainwashed by this system. Sure, it's distasteful, but not wrong."

"Perhaps if you knew love you would not reason like you do. How would the mother of the child feel to have her child taken and murdered?"

"Look, I'm going to change the subject a bit. Love, the one delusion more blinding than hope. It's for the weak, those who depend upon other weaklings for survival in a world of their own illusions. Those who say love is great or some other shit are themselves slaves, weaklings."

The many offenses Ryan has spewed are nothing to what he has said. "Is it?"

"Yes, it is. I thought doing favors for Eve would get me closer to winning her heart. Love drove me to work day and night, to deprive myself of so much in hopes to impress someone who would kill me. Something told me she didn't love me, but I blinded myself in hope." Rising from his stool, Ryan kneels, looking up at Eve. "When you've experienced the torment, the mockery, the loathing, you become something else. Now I don't believe in that shit. The void of love and sadness was filled with hatred, hatred for everything. The only good thing Eve did was open my eyes. There is no going back for me."

A tear, sparky like a diamond, trickles from his eye, and he wipes it off in a manner that it seems he's striking himself.

"That's why not many like me. My reasoning and philosophies. Look, I'm sorry. Here." Ryan draws out a crisp banknote. "For your drink. You can remember me as the nice man who paid your tab. As for my hatred of everything, I can make an exception. Good bye."

After Ryan vanishes into the crowd of partyers, Eve remains seated. Looking down at the banknote, she ruminates upon his words of sincerity, despondency, hate, and sadness. Lights flash like time, for a moment she forgets her mission. Guilt stings her insides, the guilt of having turned a good man into a callous monster. But his viewpoints still vex her. Could she and billions of other life forms be controlled by unknown factors? Are humans and robots oblivious ants in a colony she has struggled to erect from ashes up? Is everything, like axioms, inevitabilities; like death and the laws of nature, the laws and notions of man; like morals and societal norms, and many more unimaginable factors that would be impossible to acknowledge or know, bind all to existence? Those things overwhelm all, especially the mindless who live in oblivion.

Morals...Ethics...Mannerisms...The human psyche...Axioms...Inevitabilities...The laws of nature and man...The unknown...Everything...Nothing...Love? All she has fought to preserve in her millennium of existence. Eve has felt this before, the result of massive intellect from centuries of living. But now it seems clearer, more intense. The times she has felt it caused her guilt for thinking love was a blinding delusion. After all, Wall-e had voyaged across the galaxy to be with her. Then again, that guilt could be something blinding or impeding her from grasping the unperceived truth.

Eve still remains solid like a stone, blank and without movement. Even the electrons inside her have stopped, but they continue flowing inside her mind. How unaware she is of the drunkards assaulting each other like mad children denied of treats. This feeling, this state of mind feels blank...Control...Oblivion...There is no escape. No escape. "No" is an inevitability. Many feelings and thoughts rush through her mind, inexplicable by words, but she feels them there like a splinter in her mind.

"Huh?" A glass bottle shatters on her head, and the responsible man staggers away until he falls. _Follow Ryan. He may have some good in him, but he may have killed Trent _She remembers her mission_. _Darting up from her stool and plowing through the crowds, Eve stumbles out into the street as if thrown out. Wherever Ryan may have headed, he should not be far. The mental exhaustion is so great, she'd welcome death right now.

**A/N: **Okay! First I want to thank you for making it through these long paragraphs of intellectual conversations. I know they're difficult, but you don't need to know all of it. Just know that Ryan is a nihilistic, misanthropic, too-damn-smart-to-be-such-a-douche sociopath who did a lot for Eve. A lot!

**Figure-it-out-for-yourself spoilers!!!**

We know how Ryan became the monster he is today. He probably has done more for Eve than Wall-e. But tell me, who was the robot that taught Eve to feel and love? Aha!

Ryan claims that murdering children is not wrong or right, but essential.

Ryan claims that love and hope are blinding delusions keeping us from the truth. Tell me, Ryan, what isn't a blinding delusion? Who knows? Maybe your so-called logic is blinding you from an unperceived truth. Forget about love and let's focus on things like intelligence and logic and rationale. Those three things keep us bound here, in this reality, perhaps blinding us from some truth greater than the three things combined. You never know.


	14. Chapter 13: Sewage Underground

**A/N: Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I AM TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY, SORRY FOR THE LONG DELAY UPDATING THIS STORY, but I've been having some unbearable problems lately. Yes, they're academic and mental, but I won't get into detail (We all have enough problems without having to hear those of others). So these issues kinda detained me, but other than that you can't rush perfection. And besides, a seventeen-year-old (Now I'm 18, I can buy cigarettes yay! Too bad I don't smoke) has little time for himself, especially nowadays where as technology and economic demand increase, so does the expectations of those in charge. They want us to "get it done quickly." Bah! **

**Besides that, I had no internet for almost 3 months. Even if I had the chapters done I could never post them, so that added to the delay time. Because of that I decided to give my readers a little "treat." If you are reading this then you may have noticed that there is not one, but 2 new chapters up! That's a lot, believe me. It's to make up for lost time and interest. I think you'll be pretty satisfied and amazed with these two chapters. **

**For the millionth time again, I'm sorry! Please read! I could be incorporating a lot of themes and elements of this story into the work I plan to write to get paid, but I don't. I don't because I want to enlighten readers about the dire necessity of thinking for one's self and give them something different in terms of fanfiction. Of course, I have sooo many other elements and themes and story lines I am tempted to incorporate into "Resurrection," but I can't. I have to eat too. I want to be known for more than just a fanfiction writer. I am more than just a fanfiction writer. I hope one day to share my sci-fi/drama/action/romance/philosophical/horror/enlightening universe, poetry, and work with the world. I can't say much. That's why you have to know me as early as possible and in the future be amazed that you read fanfiction from a prestigious writer millions aspire to be. Oh! Even that was too cocky for me! Okay, enough with the unrealistic dreams, here's Chapter 13: **

**-Chapter 13-**

**Sewage Underground**

An SUV dashes past Eve, but it decelerates behind Ryan. The old man turns and the headlights blind him momentarily. Faster and faster the vehicle approaches, and by now Ryan stands still, without an expression on his face. Clearly they are no danger to him; he must know the driver. Why they would appear without a warning and with such a hurry—only he knows. Perhaps they're Ryan's designated chauffeurs, but then again the old man only rides in luxury transportation.

Eve stalks him in the shadows, trying to avoid the luminosity from the streetlights and strong taillights of the vehicle. The old man tries to get inside, but trying to avoid stepping on the dirty street water falters him. This is time well bought for her; now she needs to think fast and find a ride. She spins her head like a wet dog, looking for anything to borrow; she can't wait for Jeremy. There is a small pickup truck parked beneath a street light. Inside naps a human, an electrician of the street lights, unaware of the woman in dirty white approaching. This will get her hands dirty.

"Get out!"

"Whoa—what the shit-" The man stutters as if having a seizure. Eve's blows to the side of the door leave it marked and dented. Such a horrid noise it is, especially to someone who has woken up.

"Get out!" One fist pummels through the windshield and grabs the human by his collar. Out with him!

Eve gets on the driver's seat and clutches the gears. Ryan's car has already begun to accelerate. Her foot hits the accelerator and rubber burns; she's mobile.

"Come in Jeremy!" Eve shouts on her PDA while avoiding drunken beggars and city workers who stand in the deserted streets. Ryan's vehicle is in sight, and it takes a turn on the street that leads to the infamous Tunnel. The Tunnel leads to the sewage district of the city. Nothing but melancholy silence and foul smells pollute that place.

"Where are you?!" Jeremy responds. Police siren wails can be heard behind his voice.

"Ryan left the nightclub and was picked up by a vehicle. I had to borrow a vehicle." The dim orange lights flicker above Eve's sunroof as she gains speed. Nothing lives by the vicinity of the Tunnel.

"Damn! Police are already on pursuit of you—I'm following them! Where is Ryan's vehicle headed?!"

"They're headed to the Tunnel—I can already see the Tunnel! I must follow."

"Don't lose em'!" I'm gonna try to slip ahead of the police!"

Ryan's vehicle enters the behemoth. In a few seconds Eve enters the mouth of the beast. At this moment Ryan's vehicle increases speeds of 120 mph. Suicide it is to drive at great speed in the uncertain gloom of the Tunnel.

"Eve!" Jeremy yells, trying to be heard over the siren next to his vehicle, "be careful."

The two vehicles are on a death race to the sewage district. Loud turbines behind thick concrete are audible, and to make matters worse, debris of concrete and lost cars litter the Tunnel road. Like a desperate beast Ryan's vehicle swirls around the enormous boulders to avoid disaster. With ease Eve avoids the traps. The driver and Ryan himself have not noticed Eve's presence.

His words echo in Eve's mind. They become a distraction, much like her hallucinations. She cannot have distractions—not now. _Life is but a construct controlling the mind and body. . . death or life, no freedom. . . the sciences themselves are blind. . . _

The truck trips on a speed bump and the sun panel smacks Eve's forehead. She avoids crashing on the skeleton of a city bus. The police sirens can now be seen from afar and behind the two vehicles. Down the esophagus of the monster, they reach the stomach and brain. All is calm, welcome to the sewage district.

Bright orange lights shine above, and thousands of smaller lights in web networks beyond the horizon depict the former nuclear power plant. The concrete of the plant is a dark gray, with rust lines as infinite as stars in the vacuum of space seeping from above the cavern sky, and green and sick yellow spots from the sewage water. From this point it would appear like a lost city, but more life is found in a graveyard. It remains as a relic from the reign of one of the many despots that ruled centuries ago, back when McCrea was seeing his good years flash. The plant itself was a futile attempt to generate energy in order to lessen work from research of alternative methods so that capital could be conserved and then distributed as bonuses to the leader and his cronies. Now it serves as the sewage processing plant for all waste produced by the city above and most of the Colosseum.

Eve parks the truck in the shadow of an alley, far from the entrance of the plant. Police are on their way, and this is a good area to dump the vehicle. She jogs out of the alley and into the desolate streets, following the road Ryan's SUV took. He should be close.

High heels are nothing but a burden in crippled pavement, so Eve pauses and unties the straps, now barefoot and scathing her soles. She feels the stinging of the razor-sharp fragments of concrete and asphalt, but the fervor that swept her away not so long ago lingers inside. Uncertainty and disbelief infiltrate. Nothing—from the stench of stagnant sewage to the foul smell of human waste—can distract her. Only the cold puddles of muddy water keep her awake and aware of where she is. The dim light of the mammoth-sized floodlights—hanging thousands of feet above—do little to guide her, but being such a skilled machine she knows where to go. After all, it was her who brought down the nuclear energy industry and the power plant's operation.

Not much to see here but unfathomable networks of rusted pipes and humid edifices as black as the shadows they make. For such cleanliness in major parts of the city, to a point of a cold futuristic atmosphere, this is the price paid. But at least this is no harm to the earth.

Alas, after four city blocks, Eve's periphery is glared by the brighter lights of the power plant. A sentry house lies ahead, just behind the rusted chain link fence, rife with countless punctures and defects. Abandoned semi trucks lie beyond on the open fields, and beyond that—upon close inspection—are SUVS parked by the entrance of the shipping warehouse.

Before proceeding, Eve scans the area for movement:

**Scanning...**

**Subjects detected. Armed hostiles. Proceed with caution.**

Yes, now she sees the men with what seem to be rifles. They're perched on the roof of the warehouse and some are scattered in the open field. She scans again, now to identify their weapons:

**Scanning...**

**Hostiles armed with Jeryn type-24 accelerated plasma carbines. **

Jeryn! She recognizes that name. How did these men get their hands on such powerful weapons? How did they even get their hands on weapons?

This she did not expect. Eve drops to her knees and crawls to a nearby power generator, scathing her smooth skin and tearing her clothes. Soon she leaves slim trails of blood. Up ahead the blast doors of the loading dock are open; no guards in sight. She crawls as low as possible, trying to remain calm. No going back now. Mobile SUVS percolate the outside of the fields.

"Come in Jeremy." She tries to contact him, but no answer. Out of nowhere a guard appears and stands in front of the entrance of the blast doors, and Eve is but a few meters away. Without thinking she sprints up and dashes to him.

The guard turns and sees Eve. "Hey!"

The woman kicks his rifle and disarms him. An all out fight between the two. He tries to tackle her but she staffers and takes him into a choke hold. He kicks and tries screaming, but she muffles him out with her fingers.

Out of desperation the guard sinks his teeth on her flesh, trying to release himself by shaking his head like a violent dog.

"Surrender! Please!"

Seconds turn into minutes, but time is running out. Eve muffles her own cries of pain by biting on his ear. He retaliates by biting harder. Killing him is not an option.

As quick as light she releases him, but strikes him on the back of the head, knocking him down. A bloody hand remains. Her systems administer an anesthetic, but the damage is done. His teeth ruptured down to the muscle tissue. No time to worry about that now. Eve drags the guard and dumps him inside a rusted garbage disposal. She leans for the rifle and proceeds, infra-red vision drawn out to watch out for other guards.

"Eve?!"

"Yes Jeremy?!"

"Police have set up a foolproof disruption in the system of the district. They are waiting to proceed. In less than ten minutes they'll raid wherever you're situated. Be careful. I'll watch out for you."

Eve draws away her PDA and sneaks past the vigilant eyes of armed men. She can see a man in a suit pacing back and forth. A large crate shelf makes the perfect pathway to bypassing. She climbs like a spider on the prowl of its prey and stalks on top of the catwalk, where she can hear that familiar voice. She takes a peek, and right below is Ryan and a dozen armed men. Careful not to make a sound, Eve lowers herself and lies down on the rifle.

"Where is he?!" Ryan shouts at one of the men. They all seem somewhat unwelcoming of the old man's attitude, but for whatever reasons, they're bearing it.

"Mr. Rhineheart will be here soon."

"Call him! I want a better answer than that."

"He's here! Look..."

Loud engines pollute the tranquil ambience of the room. The armed men take position, two approach the vehicle. Door hinges click and out steps a man in a trenchcoat. Ryan approaches him with a wide smiles on his face, unkempt hair waving from the breeze blowing through the tile-sized windows.

The man nods to Ryan. "Ryan..."

Ryan nods to him. "Jerry..."

They stare at each other, eyes fixated like cockeyed imbeciles alert to burst out in laughter for any petty occurrence the other one makes. The two friends burst out in laughter, joyous like drunks and embracing each other like father and son.

"What took you so long?"

"What took me so long? You're the one who just waltzed in here after twenty minutes."

"Had you been here twenty minutes earlier I wouldn't have needed to leave to look for your drunk ass."

"I needed a break. It ain't easy living with those memories of your fallen men and colleagues screaming and dying."

"I assure you their deaths won't be in vain."

"You'd better hope so."

They must be speaking of the Alaska incident. But why should their deaths not be in vain? Is the legacy of all those men alive and growing, or could the two be referring to something else? She must heed closer.

"Just for curiosity, what were you doing?"

"I was—bah I was just at the nightclub getting something sweet to eat. I took a little longer because I was talking to this gorgeous psychiatrist."

"Why Ryan, I had no idea you liked men."

"It was a woman, you cocksucker."

"Just asking, just for curiosity, what was a woman doing in that place? Stripping's her second job or what?

"Nah, she said she liked the pink gins they make, but I wouldn't doubt if she did work there. You should have seen her. She was every man's dream. Lust or grace, either way."

"So you were flirting with her? She was into old men?"

"Not as much flirting as talking."

"What did you two talk about?"

"About the things I tell you. About the things I have now only told two souls in this cold system of civilization. I was a gentleman this time. No obscene jokes or demanding instant sex as to save us both time from stupid flirting."

"Really? I thought I was the only one who knew your philosophy."

"Not anymore my friend. This woman was beautiful and intelligent. Her grace was beyond that of dumb broads at the club—her intellect. She understood me. I just couldn't believe it. Beautiful and smart? That is as unrealistic as time travel in our slow century."

"The things you do to pick up women. Come on, I know this woman might be the Eve of the world, but do you really have to open up to any girl you want? They might deem you as a liar or oddball obsessed with his own thoughts of life."

Ryan breaks from his meditative euphoria of mental tranquility, compressing his wrinkled forehead flesh and looking into Jerry with contempt. "Were you there? Were you there to know what the shit happened? Huh? Were you?"

"Hey!" Jerry locks into defensive position, frowning his eyes and raising his tone of voice, "I'm just saying you shouldn't trust anyone you desire."

"You calling me a liar."

"I was talking about your womanizing. I've seen you act all nice and shit. It ain't you.

"Hey, who doesn't pretend to be something else when they get their eyes on the prize?"

"I don't know, but chill out. That's what I was referring to. Man, you shouldn't drink when medicated. Look how you act. Besides, I never referred to your philosophies. I only said that's what they might think. You know damn well average minds don't comprehend the transcendent knowledge us superior minds have come to grasp and relish as axiomatic. Some of them will even put down what they cannot understand. Why do you think those humans from the 21st century valued tabloid shit and athletic prowess over intellect? You know that."

"Damn, sorry." Ryan covers his face with his palm, the sudden guilt of tantrum takes him. "You know how I get. You know how I feel being called a liar in regards to my philosophies. Remember?

"Yeah, it's okay." The two sit down on wooden chairs and make themselves comfortable. The other armed men give them privacy. "Enough with that. Let's get down to business."

"Sure." Ryan rubs his hands, sliding down the upper sleeves of his suit and revealing scabbed marks on his arms. Jerry takes notice.

"What are those?"

"These?" Ryan says, casual as if they were a simple accessory on himself, "you know what they are."

"You should stop doing that."

"Hey, you find a better alleviation. And don't worry. If I overdid it I'd be in a better suit and under six feet of earth."

Jerry sighs, worried for his long-time friend's sanity, or scarce remnants of it. Ryan had been an unpredictable fellow, with a hospitalization in a human psychiatric hospital for two months following an alcohol overdose. He had his suicide note inside his pockets. Not that Jerry feels much sadness for him, but he could never stand such a bright mind going to waste.

"Just don't end next to a bag of blood, okay?"

"Don't worry kid."

Jerry sighs once more, ready to tell Ryan the issues of whatever they're doing. "I'm going to get to the point. We're still recruiting mercs and producing their weapons. It's gonna take a while to brief them on the operation and assign them their posts. It's a lot of time and money at stake, but we're having bigger problems with them."

"How much do they demand?"

"Well, the money is not as much as problem as their demands. They want vigilant power, you know, authority, if we succeed."

"How much power?"

"Local power. They want to be paid for protection and regulation."

"And how is that a problem? If we succeed it'll be the civilian's problems to deal with the mercs, not ours. Extortion is nothing for us to worry about."

"But that will lead to corruption and crime. Citizens might form private militias and fight back. We wouldn't be readily prepared to deal with such problems. Besides, our goal, our purpose, is to bring our fellow humans together and make the machines sustain the foundation of our civilization. Our purpose is to make the machines the work force of industry, but we need all—and absolutely all humans to be united. How can we revolt from the machines if we humans can't come together?

"Mighty point Jerry. You're right. Our revolution would be in vain if we allow the fertilizers of corruption and dissent to contaminate the soil. But what do we tell em'? They're not mindless men of war. They know what we can and can't do."

"I had in plan something else."

"Lying?"

"Quite so. They're not going to be local authority. Our soldiers will be."

Ryan chuckles at such notion. "If you can domesticate those animals properly, then yeah, you'll be right."

"That reminds me, there is a small problem with the project."

"Which is?"

"Well, we're not entirely done learning about the species. It truly is difficult when they won't let themselves. I already lost a few men."

"Big problem. So you lose a few men, who hasn't?"

"Let me finish. Today we barely began research and experimentation. It will be a delay and slow us for a couple of months. Sorry but this is unlike anything we've ever dealt with before."

"How much time do you think before we can train em'?"

"I don't think training them will be so easy. I'm going to invite you one day to let you see them. They're excellent with weaponry and brute force, but they get out of hand. If things continue like this then we'll have to accept a possibility of deploying them, letting them kill, and then having to exterminate them. Think of that as a virus."

"Hmm," Ryan looks down, eyes fixated on a piece of 2x4 while mind ruminating of a solution. "So how long?"

"I don't really know. seven—maybe eleven months."

The man's eyes open. Such a short time to domesticate animals.

"That little? I thought we'd have to wait twenty years."

"Well, I can't really say it will take less than a year."

"But I assigned the best biologists over to you. These men have done incredible things in the past."

"Yes, I know. After all, they did eradicate venereal diseases, but like I said, this is unlike anything we've ever faced."

"Just try to keep it under Eve's radar. If that bitch ever finds out, we will sure get the guillotine."

Jerry decides to change the topic of discussion. "Well, that's confirmed. It's going to take time before we can train them. Speaking of Eve, how did she buy into the report of the incident?"

"Oh, that was real simple. I think she was more heartbroken with the death of Trent. Maybe she was his mistress." Ryan snickers.

"Well, let's hope she's not suspicious. I really cannot afford losing this project. And whenever you see her, be sober. You'll probably fuck it up for all of us."

"Bah, the only time I'll ever see her is if she objects to the incident report, but no need to worry, she'll never know it was us. She'll never know we firebombed the fields."

_It was us. . . . . .we firebombed the fields. . . Trent. . ._ Ryan's words echo inside Eve. Her robotic heart sinks like a stone. A rush of emotions overwhelm her mind. It was him! He killed Trent!

"Okay Ryan, you'd better shut up. We can't risk disclosing informations about that in here."

"Whatever."

"Now, about the Assault Project. If we are successful with training our soldiers, and agree on a 'compromise' with the mercs, the assault could very well prove as a symbol for our revolution to do two things. First, to establish fear and our new world order. No anarchy. It will be our anarchy, not the world's. If anyone else ever desired to object our order, then they can deal with our mighty soldiers and fleets of massive armies. The second and most important, that machines come in second place. Humans and flesh-wearers are first. Without humans machines would never have existed."

"You'll serve as a great leader Jerry."

Oh my! One of the armed men busts inside and interrupts the two men.

"Mister Rhineheart—mister Malady, we have a situation."

Jerry rises as he sees light flash from afar. "We have to go. Damn police."

Ryan rises and both men are escorted into the vehicles ready to leave the underground. "So remember Ryan, keep your mind sober and your mouth will be shut."

Eve rises and grabs the rifle as soon as the men leave into the darkness of the west fold. She is still shocked to have learned Ryan's deeds. She jumps out of the warehouse window and lands feet first on a dumpster. Police lights are but a few hundred meters away by now. She can see the armed servicemen tearing down the gates. Jeremy is nowhere to be seen.

"Trent..." She whispers to no one while running past the blind side of the policemen. "Forgive me..."

It is time. A time for Eve to see what is not there. Without warning all the lights of the sewage underground go out. The sirens and police lights dissipate. _Bienvenidos al el infierno de Eva._

_

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**A/N: So, I certainly hope you all have a rekindled interest. Enjoy the next chapter.**  
_


	15. Chapter 14: Infierno

**A/N: I was listening to a lot of black music while writing this chapter. A bit of black metal too, but mostly industrial music. This is absolutely, positively, undoubtedly the most complicated chapter to understand. This goes beyond Chapter 12. Since I'm Mexican and speak and write some Spanish, I've used some words and phrases in Spanish. There are footnotes at the end of this chapter in case you need better explanations or couldn't understand most of the content, but if you still have doubts, don't hesitate to ask questions. Enjoy: **

**Chapter 14**

**Ѱ Infierno Ѱ**

It's quiet. The sirens are no more. Even the machinery of the sewage processing plant has stopped, and it's never supposed to stop. A sorcery, a malignant force, takes over. Tenebrous shadows of the dismal hell seep and creep throughout. The floodlights go out. Nothing but a cavernous hell. A forgotten hell. Buried alive, drowning in pitch darkness as if it were water. She should have packed the night-vision goggles. Fortunately, the rifle has a flashlight attached.

Eve tries to contact Jeremy once more. "Jeremy! Jeremy! Pick up!" She whispers with force into her PDA, wielding the rifle with the other hand. The flashlight creates little luminosity; it's but a speck guiding her in black fog.

"Who's there?"

A gray leg just flashed by in front and—it disappeared. What in the hell...

"Show yourself!"

Deep breaths...deep breaths she takes. Her heart pounds; skin crawls as if touched by an evil. The thing is still vivid in her mind. She can see the veins in thin air or with closed eyes. They won't leave. They won't dissipate.

"Evil spirits," she mutters the words of McCrea, the words whispered in his deathbed, "foul outcasts from heaven forsake us. You traitors fornicated with the beauty only two as one have the right—the privilege to relish. Your sons, the feared Goliaths, made us like them, cruel and destructive. The system crashes, and He brought the end of such world. Your sons die, but you leave the flesh and ascend to Him for forgiveness, but He denies you and casts you next to the side of his arch enemy. Cast down! The heavens rejoice, evil and wickedness of your presence are no more, but oh how His children are forsaken! Us!"

Oh, how the abnormal and paranormal fear can corrode the mind. This fear, this disease of the soul, it degenerates the tormented. Haven't you ever lingered in darkness—with not a clue of where you pace or what hides in the blackness of corners or holes—or behind you. The foul spirits just wait to play, they want to see you suffer for their own amusement. You stand motionless in the dark, frozen like a casket corpse, and you fear of what will flash before your eyes or ring in your ears or grip your body. You may see odd figures or shadows form in places where nothing is there. You may hear a whisper—"Eve...Hello...I am a—Curses! I dare not write the name of the evil! It will haunt me at night...And I'm not ready to lose my mind yet...

Uncertainty, it still saturates her mind. "Now you dwell the world, tormenting us. Adversity! War! Disease! Desires of the flesh! Avarice! Genocide! No final solution. Torment our lives, desecrate our dreams, haunt the night shadows with phantasms and specters of our lost brothers. Reaper itself flees your presence. Feast on our fears, take it! Take it all! But let us die—oh! Why not? We ask you, fellow brother, with all this suffering and pain and uncertainty and oblivion, why don't you kill yourself?"

Then she rose...

Your arch enemy...

She helped us forget you...

United us and you were no more...

Myths and lost lies...

But as a last resort His arch enemy incited wickedness in us...

To repeat the mistakes of our ancestors...

Now you unleash this evil against her...

It will be ours too...

Curse you! Our savior will be our doom...

_Infierno! _The fiery red of its ungodly essence surrounds Eve._Satanas y sus demonios y sus esclavos atormentan con sangre y fuego! _Lost souls; they're begging for death. They consume the fire, begging for death to come, but It does not dare enter the gates of hell. The fire only burns their flesh, their grease boils and disfigures, bringing about their own burning and suffering.

Demons chant the Gregorian bellows, holy evil. They stand around, tormenting crucified souls. These souls bleed hot blood. It burns their own flesh.

Paralyzed from the abrupt evil that has flashed before her eyes, Eve stands in a small stones, away from the brimstone and river of blood and fire. For a woman of science this is too real. The cadavers of the wicked walk sightless, lost in existence.

_Porque no dejarás mi alma en el Seol._

_No permitirás que el que te es leal vea el hoyo._

_You shall not let my soul enter the Sheol _

_You will not let he who is loyal see the abyss..._

This is the hell they fear. This is the hell they created, the hell we created. This hell Eve knows in and out. Ha! This hell is nothing but an abysmal system of humans and nature. This is a collection of fears of all weak intelligent creatures. Volatile emotions that determine outcomes and events in nature, in the physical world, by using us as vessels, as the mediums, like a demon-possessed soul.

Eve's foreseen hell, the hell that has tormented her, it is the ultimate evil. The final solution to good and evil. The hell to end all wars and destroy all peace. That is the hell we do not fear as much as Satan's hell. That is the hell we should fear. The final solution is execution.

Blank...

Nonexistence...

Nothingness...

The beginning of the end and end of end, and end, and end, and end, and end...

It's dark again. The macerated corpses are gone, and so are the repugnances that ripped off their flesh from the bone. Ha! _Infierno de Satanas, _the hell of Eve has you. You are a slave to it. You, like us and everything that exists, will succumb to it. You are nothing but pain and fear, Eve's hell is the nonexistence of all totality of existence. We die for it...

Wait, there is a sound. It's coming from a distance. A splashing of some liquid. It's coming from below.

Eve is curious as to what it could be. She lies down and hears a glass crack. It is like the sound of a knife cutting through moist flesh.

"Hello..." Eve laughs, vacant eyes and bloodied mouth filled with as much malady as the malodorous noise below. She lies on all fours, tongue sticks out as her eyes scan the mysterious glass. The frail crystal gives in and down falls Eve to a blood and biomass bath.

Poor dog; she squirms in this prison, desperate to find an escape. How foul the stink! A broth a angel corpses and contamination, the crimes those outcasts committed against our existence.

It has her, now it has her. Tentacles emerge from the abyss and clutch her wrists and legs, choking the life out of her. It's drowning her in a pool of sins, a broth of death and repugnances; the crimes humans and machines have committed against their own existence—as deemed by the mind and body. This is the hell the ones blessed with great intellect "fear."

Entrenched in the negativities, nowhere to go. Drown Eve, drown. This is the existence; a quagmire of suffocation and drowning in reality of systems and laws beyond our control or understanding.

But there is hope, a small speck of yellow light in the pale sick yellowness that surrounds her. From the depths below it ascends; it's a small organic chunk of impurity, hair follicles with minds of their own implanted on it. Vacant eyes stare at the curiosity. No fear, just a blank feeling.

"Nngh!"

It tries to gag her, but her teeth grasp it and keep it from venturing down her esophagus. The teeth sink into the blob, making it spew a bittersweet fluid. Oddly enough this makes her feel better, it makes her feel...good. The tightness of the tentacles bothers her no more. Drunk with the sweet bile and vomit of human life.

Time elapses, and it begins to taste raw, unbearable like putrid meat. Her insides rumble, she feels bad, but the mania fools her into a false sense of wellness. Her mouth spews out the liquid and the blob itself. She should feel better, but no, she feels worse. She wants more. She needs more. There isn't anymore. What to do? Out of desperation she sucks in the rejected matter like a dog regurgitates its vomit.

Yes, much better.

"Eve..."

That voice. How familiar. Is it death? Has it returned? Have mercy reaper! Take her!

"Eve...get...there...me your...hand..."

That familiar hand, covered by that familiar skin.

"Eve!"

"AH!" Eve heaves for air; her synthetic body needs it.

Odd. In the mere blink of an eye the broth of rotten death is but cold water purified by loud machines around and throughout this warehouse.

"Hang on!"

Jeremy hangs by his leg from one of the rusted rail of the catwalk, clutching Eve's bloody hand tighter and tighter.

"Help me..."

Her eyes become blurry from the impurities in the water. Her mind spirals like the whirlpools, nauseating and disorienting her.

"Jeremy..."

"Eve! I'm...you up...hang...don't..."

Jeremy clings on tighter and finally pulls her out of her demented torture.

"Here!" He removes his coat and wraps Eve with it, embracing the disoriented woman to comfort her in this time of melodious insanity. "I'm here Eve. You'll be okay." Like a child and a mother they cling to one another. He pats her back and with all strength carries her on his arms. Eve continues disoriented.

Jeremy walks out of the plant and to his vehicle. The police lights and sirens have vanished, and the sewage lights are once more. Eve has no idea in hell what is happening. Her friend escorts her inside the rear seats of the vehicle and wraps her in a blanket.

Her vacant eyes fixate on him for sorrow. "Jere- Jeremy. . ."

"Don't speak, try to calm down. I'm getting you out of here."

The love of a friend be as greater as the love of a soul mate.

**

* * *

**

**-Footnotes-**

**This Chapter Explained**

**-Figure-it-out-for-yourself-spoilers!-**

Okay, I really hope I didn't confuse anybody with this chapter. I did incorporate some Spanish phrases and sentences for style, but that's the least baffling element in this chapter.

This chapter may seem as just horror, but as I hinted, there is more than meets the eye. I'll just get on with it.

_El Infierno de Satanas_, or Satan's Hell, is a representation of the reality we live today. It's a collection of our fears and lives. The slaves are those who want out of this system, to stop living in oblivion and insignificance. But they can't escape it, like Hell. You either follow the laws of man, and get to indulge in some of the pleasantries the system offers, or you go back to primitivism and do as you please, but without governments and power figures to protect you. The demons are those who enforce human notions, be they good like following laws of civility, or bad like breaking the rules. They oppress the slaves. The demons are also uncertainty and the fear that we can't know everything that will occur in the future. Last but not least, Satan is the human condition, the reality of emotions and all that makes us human. We're our own hell! Eve was denying the fear of uncertainty, she wanted to know she was in control, just like many people do today. These people negate the reality that anything in this universe can happen. They limit themselves to just what is known and deny religious or certain philosophical indoctrination. Not that I'm religious. I'm a man of science, but it's foolish to think that causality caused all of this. We have at least a billion more years to go to even know half of what the universe is. The more you know...you never know...

Eve's Hell is the hell "we" know exists.

The Liquid hell, the one that drowned Eve, is—ah! I can't really tell you much. It would spoil the story! All I can say is that it's a mix of Satan and Eve hell. A mix of death and nonexistence.

We fear pain and adversity, but the real thing we should fear is oblivion. Put aside all your mundane worries and see that this society, these human systems are weak and will fall. Maybe not today, maybe not in a thousand years, but they will fall. Put aside all your emotions and be realistic, be rational that

Eve sees dark (Uncertainty; oblivion of life. We blindly follow life).

Eve sees hell (The pain of life. The fear of the average mind).

Eve's contempt vanishes hell (Blinding the mind due to the fear of uncertainty, but Eve did it because this is something she doesn't fear. Reality was trying to get her to succumb to emotional oblivion so her massive intellect wouldn't help her break away from the system, but she didn't give in. Take that system! And yes, I know that such eagerness is part of you, system, but who cares! Nothing I ever say or feel or do or think will be independent from you).

Eve's hell (Existence and the network that connects everything. Nobody can escape it. Everything and anything you do and think is a result of the system. It is futile trying to break away).

Liquid Hell (The final solution. The only one close to breaking away from it to some unknown existence is Eve, but this system tries to pull her in. The liquid hell can't let Eve leave. Everything that exists must perish. Existence and liquid hell/Nonexistence are enemies, and they're fighting to have Eve. Think of it as two children tugging over a teddy bear).

It's complicated, ain't it? That's the beauty of mind intellect. But no matter what I've written, this story can't compare to **Twilight**, if anybody catches my drift. LOL!


	16. Important Update

Important Update Regarding _**Resurrection**_

_**Edited March of 2012.**_

_**Originally published in April of 2009**_

Yes! A very important update indeed. I am more than happy to announce that **the second half of this story is in progress.** Clearly with the mega chapter I uploaded recently you can see I'm willing to continue even if the Wall-e fandom glows dimly. I'm more than happy to belong to the few of us still giving tribute to that beautiful film. Let's keep the flame alive while we can =) Oh, just kidding. I know many of us have moved on to other interests since 2008. It happens.

I blame no one for this. Wall-e was a very short and quick source of joy and entertainment, and then it was surpassed by other things. It happens all the time. Some loved books or films or any source of entertainment has its fifteen minutes of fame and then others get a turn. I couldn't ask for anything different. Still, I will carry on until with my fan devotion until it inevitably disappears. We had a good time and good memories, all of us. This was an enlightening fanfic and a marvelous experience for me. I will see it finished. I don't care about getting a thousand reviews or any of that stuff. I know that this story gets so few views. I know the Wall-e fandom is virtually dissipating and moving on to other things. I'm moving on to other things. But I know that even if just one person reads this story, if they are enlightened by whatever theme I threw in there in the first or second half of this story, then it will have mattered.

Well, I guess that's all. I'm going to finish this incredible project (In my egotistical opinion, thank you very much) and reflect on my experiences. Wall-e did motivate me to take the leap into a writing career. I will not let it go forgotten into the good night (Corny reference).

Oh boy. I can't believe the stuff in italics below was me three years ago. I'll leave it down there just to let you know what scrawny fool I was back then. Nah, I guess it's called being a teen. Yep! Teens, the stupidest members of the human species XD.

_This is an update for my story. I am sorry to announce that I won't be making it to the second half of the story. It was going to be packed with action and peril, new twists and adventure. I'll only finish this half of the story, which will take approximately another 10 to 15 chapters. The reason I'm canceling the story is due to the low traffic and small number of readers it has. Blame it on the FF readers, sorry for not making it it soft-core pornography and mindless teen entertainment. This was supposed to be an enlightening fanfic, unlike any other fanfic. I still think it is, but I guess I catered to the wrong fandom. After all, Wall-e fans only care about romance and humor, not philosophical reflection and wisdom. I had a feeling it would be a failure from the start. No, I'm not trying to make myself seem superior or super intelligent. Human intellect is limited and most of it is just preoccupation with human abstractions and concepts._

_Well, besides that, I just haven't been feeling up to writing lately. My damn problems and anxiety get in the way of stuff. (No I don't need your sympathy) So yes, the story will be over soon even though the events go on, and I'm the only one who knows what happens. Ha._

_Sorry. . ._

_But I might change my mind in the future and continue this story._

Uh, yeah, that was me. Oh, and before I forget, I am really considering remastering the previous chapters of this story with a more skilled style of writing, mainly the skills I have today that I did not have three years ago. I don't know if I'll be able to do that, so it's just a **maybe**.


	17. Chapter 15: Imminent Revolution

**Chapter 15**

**-Imminent Revolution-**

Out of the district, out of the tunnel, out of the android ghetto, through the ever-so-busy city, and at last, to the Colosseum the two arrive. Jeremy parks in the designated vehicle fields for military personnel. With arms around his broad shoulders, Eve staggers with him to the landing zone where the Motherload awaits. Some of the military personnel—enlistees, recruits, privates, even captains halt from their activities to get a glance of the woman drenched in green goop—that is, after saluting the honorable Master Sergeant Jeremy. The hangar bay and council chamber are far away. They'll debrief once they arrive.

The day has gone as every other day. Not much is different. Humans ans machines continue about with their duties and leisure. Already the hype over the legion of police vehicles in the sewage district has faded.

The Motherload descends from the high altitude of the skies like a small asteroid falling from space. The hangar bay welcomes them and Eve's escort directs her and Jeremy to the council chamber. As always, they proceed through the small corridor, bringing back a close memory.

"What the hell were you doing back there?" Jeremy brings forth his question while rubbing bio-alcohol on her wounds. Eve will need to recover quickly if she is to reveal the news to him.

"I-I-" Eve mutters her words without proper enunciation. Her delicate body trembles without stop. The hallucination still dwells inside her mind, percolating and driving her mad.

"Don't talk, explain to me later. We gotta get you cleaned up."

"I-**I think Ryan and Jerry are plotting something**. . ." Eve goes comatose. Jeremy now heeds her words closely.

"Plotting what?!" He shakes her to awaken, but no response.

"Eve!"

_Lights fade, silence creeps in, the day begins to die. Those who seized the die despair at it's fading into an azure. Those who seize the night become alert, ready to live what they have missed for so long. _

4 hours later, Eve finds herself lying on her room bed, Wall-e stares at his human bride from a corner, clutching both hands in hope she's okay. Jeremy sits by her side.

"Wall-e's been a bit stunned by your human body."

Eve caresses her head, still dazed by the earlier events. "What happened?"

"You passed out for a few hours. We're back in your place. You had an emergency lock-down inside that robotic body of yours. The grime water must have corroded your prime battery."

"I-I. . ."At this moment Eve remembers what she tried to tell Jeremy.

"Wa- Wall-e. . ." she coughs her words, "would you mind leaving us alone for a moment? Just a moment?"

Wall-e looks at her a bit bothered. Why must his wife keep things secret from him? But after what happened perhaps it'd be best if he just obliged. The little robot plants a kiss on his wife's hand and strolls out the room.

Alone and eyes fixated on each other, Eve begins: "When you were gone Ryan and Jerry were discussing some plans; they were plotting something."

"Plotting what?"

"I do not know. But I found out something I did not expect." Eve readies herself to reveal Ryan's darkened secret. "Ryan was responsible for the collapse of his research field. Ryan killed Trent."

Jeremy rises from his seat, eyes wide open. Could he believe his ears? Tell me, could he? Emotions flutter through him. _Anger, disbelief, contempt, surprise._

"I'm sorry Jeremy." Eve's eyes begin to flow tears. Such an oddity for machines to weep.

"That son of a bitch!" The man stomps the ground with all his might. The anger rushes and conquers him. "He lied to us! He killed your best friend! We ate up his bullshit! I knew he had something to do with- oh damn it!"

Eve rises from her bed, smooth vibrant legs reflect the dying sunlight, and she tries to comfort her friend. Such a blow to the face this has been to her and him. Jeremy slaps both hands on his face and lungs inflate without stop. His face turns red and droplets of water stream down his face.

"Arrest that motherfucker!"

"What?"

"Arrest him. We know his little secret now. Arrest him!"

As much as she would like to make Ryan pay for his crime, she is hesitant to answer him. "I, I cannot arrest him."

Infuriated and confused, Jeremy grabs Eve by the shoulders, believing she may be malfunctioning. "Eve! What the hell's wrong with you?! Ryan killed your best friend and you don't want to arrest him?! Why?! I'll kill that old bastard!"

The woman looks down to the floor in shame. "If I arrest him, I will not be able to learn what he is plotting."

"I'll beat it out of him. Arrest him." The angered man draws his radio out. "Come on, we're going to issue a warrant for his arrest."

"No, stop. Ryan knows half of his own plans. Jerry knows the rest. If we arrest Ryan then Jerry will know we are watching. He will not let himself be searched. Please. . . " Eve rubs Jeremy's broad shoulders and helps lower him to take a seat next to her in her bed. Tears run down their faces like the dying of a white day.

"Relax my friend, for I wish to tell you my adventure."

Calm and collective, and after a deep breath and cleared mind from anger and murderous tendencies, Jeremy asks: "What is it that they're plotting?"

Eve signals come closer, to heed his ear unto her lips: "I overheard them say they are training some sort of creatures. They plan to attack a target in a few months as a sign of revolution. They plan to incite anarchy and rebel against me. They wish to rebel against what I have helped build."

"Creatures, like super soldiers?

"I don't know, but my guess is that whoever they are training must be hiding in Jerry's laboratories. If we arrest Ryan then we will compromise Jerry disposing of evidence."

Trying to relax, Jeremy begins to see her point. The news of Trent's death still perturbs him. "But can't you issue a search warrant to search that mother too?"

"I cannot risk that. There may be moles working among my divisions. If he was able to assemble mercenaries, who knows what else he is capable of doing."

Jeremy still cannot believe his ears. "They're training super soldiers and have mercs assembled. They plan to attack something or someone as a sign of anarchy. What the hell is happening?"

"You know how vindictive Ryan has been to me throughout the years. I never thought he would be capable of such a thing. But when I heard him and Jerry speak of these things, I knew it was no joke. They want power. They want me dead."

"But then what are we supposed to do?"

Eve ponders his question thoroughly. Whatever must they do? At times like these she would consult Trent, but he is not here anymore. These two days has been the most interesting days in years for Eve. Nightmares, uncovered artifacts, friends dying, everlasting passion, metamorphosis, Ryan's dark side, confessions, and a near death.

"We spy on him. We follow him around and hopefully he will meet again with Jerry to discuss plans. "

"How?"

"We begin tomorrow. I follow him around the city and keep a watchful eye on his deeds. He will sooner or later reveal what the target is."

"We can't take risks. Issue a security alert, heighten security in your tower, the Colosseum, anywhere you and Wall-e may go."

"Will do."

"We're gonna make that old son of a bitch speak. Once we know the target we'll be waiting for him."

But Ryan's words of misanthropy and wisdom still circulate inside her head. Something, oh, something tells her Ryan may be more of an enigma than she believes. Who is Ryan? What is Ryan? She wishes to do him no harm, even if it was he who murdered her best friend. Like a lost riddle she wishes to solve him. What is he? Do you know?

"Yo Eve, I'm sorry for my behavior earlier. I didn't expect this." Jeremy lies his head on Eve's small shoulder. Such a good friend he has been blessed with.

"I felt the same way you did my friend."

"Well, ahem, with that sorted out, we'd better get to the psychiatrist. Dr. Wakeman doesn't like tardy patients."

The two rise from the bed and walk out to the hangar bay.

"Are you sure you're okay to go Eve?"

"Yes, I really need this."

**A/N: Sorry if the chapter sounds rushed but I really want to get us to the action and shooting parts. They're very close. You will not believe the twists and turns that are about to come. Please stick around, review, and help me inspire myself to finally finish this first half of the story and, if my mind and duties permit, tell the second exciting half of this Resurrected story. **

**And now, I wish to take this opportunity to respond to my readers:**

**Review by whoadrep08** **  
**2010-02-14 . chapter 16

Such a pity, alot of us really like to read our stories even if the people do not bother to offer feedback.  
But regardless on the number of people who DO read our fanfics, it still meant that people around the globe who had access to this site at least got to read something we have created in tribute to the greatest human arts.  
And i have to agree that intellect is a scarcity in our world, as your OC's say. Though it's debatable for what intellect truly is, depending if you define it as understanding a spectrum of perspectives, or a field of knowledge, concepts of philosophy, ectetra.  
As for the tale of Wall-E, it was written as a romance story built into the background theme of overcoming human laziness and arogance, with such movement inadvertently caused by a main character who wishes to banish his pain of isolation with reciprocated and unconditional love, the ultimate cure for loneliness. It was so simple and traditional but it was so touching that our fandom writters (myself included) try to emphasize that pursuit of love and what happens after they finally hold hands.  
I don't blame anyone but the cancelation of a fine story mixed with a wider background theme is quite a disappointment. Anxiety is natural for a writter over the feedback of readers, but do not let depression get the better of you.  
it's your story and only you can decide for what to do with it.  
I hope that one day you may return to complete Resurrection.

Sincerly, whodarep08

**Thank you for your words of encouraging wisdom Whoadrep08. It has been more than a month, yes, since I've written, so I do not feel as hopeless as I did back then, but there is something more than just reader sloth or intellectual scarcity that bothers me. It's me. I'm the Ryan of this story. Fear not, I'm not trying to be a Gary Stu or anything of that sort. I'm also an enigma, like many of us, but I feel a biting disturbance on the back of my mind that keeps me from doing what I enjoyed once, which included writing; a contribution to the fine human arts, and intellectuality, which does include a wide spectrum of perspectives, from philosophy to scholarly knowledge, both bound and connected by curiosity and a Wall-e love for the obscure and beautiful. So yes, I'm very undefined right now. But let me ask you, and copy this onto your new review, what would you do? Would you choose a bliss of oblivion but with love or a life of intellectuality, or a mix of both? Oh I would be honored if you replied. Many thanks for being my reader.**

**Sorry if I didn't get to all others, but I don't want to take up much space or bore you. Well, stay tuned.**


	18. Chapter 16: Chrysalis Dream

**-Chrysalis Dream-**

**Chapter 16**

Marvel at the chrysalis stained glass above the skies of Dr. Wakeman's sanctuary! Oh how easily one would fall into a swoon of ecstasy, such is the grace of his haven. Chrysalis butterflies and monarchs embellish the dome where the tree of life stands. The forbidden tree, Eve's sin, Adam's mistake; marvel at it. Much more beautiful it is with the sun setting in the west where birds fly as freely as the butterflies in the dome. Orange light reflects and illuminates the crystal dome into a rainbow of vivid colors; an ambient wonder that leaves one paralyzed with joy and wonderment.

Doctor Wakeman lies on a mat, relaxed, letting his mind and body fall into a natural state of relaxation. He is a master in becoming blank, blank like the systems of our existence. The little fountain besides him trickles down, soothing droplets of water. For a robot Eve finds this just beyond awe-inspiring, beyond the words of any human language. It is in the beauty of nature's language.

"Jeremy, I know it's you." Wakeman whispers through his old soft lips, eyes closed and mind at ease.

"Hello Doctor Wakeman. I've brought here a friend who could really use your help. You might know her."

"Yes," Wakeman chuckles his old voice, "I know it's Eve."

Eve's eye rises. Perhaps Jeremy already told him they were coming. She does not believe in psychic phenomena, but she never closes her mind to the possibilities.

"Yeah, it's her." Jeremy sighs out his words. The idea of Ryan being free at this very moment disturbs him so. How he wishes he could tear him to pieces. But, but, this is a place of relaxation, this is where one's troubles vanish.

Wakeman rises from his swoon and approaches Jeremy and the woman in the white dress. Her blue eyes catch his attention.

"My, such eyes you have my dear Eve."

Eve covers her soft mouth and giggles. It's been a while since someone complimented her of her eyes. Wall-e of course sees beyond the physical and loves the miracle that she loves him with all her life.

"I am Doctor Wakeman. Certified psychotherapist and psychiatrist."

"It is an honor Doctor Wakeman." Eve and Wakeman shake hands, eager to see each other at last.

"The honor is mine dear leader of our world. Please, sit."

The three take seats behind the forbidden tree, in front of the sunset. Wakeman helps Eve to recline her seat.

"So dear Eve, I am sorry for your loss. Trent meant the world to you, did he not?"

"Yes, he did." Thoughts race inside her mind. Ryan's intellectual talk, his betrayal, Trent's death, the disturbing hallucinations, Wall-e. . .

"I must say you do seem a little bit stressed out. What has you? Is it Trent's death? Is it the endless protests from those who wish to see you out of leadership? Your love life?"

Eve clutches her fist, trying to rid her anxiety. Were she a living thing then she's be breathless. "I must reveal to you something."

"What is it?" At this point Wakeman lights some incense and places it near Eve. Her olfactory systems react and deliver Eve into a breathtaking relaxation.

"I, I have been having these hallucinations. I see dead people entrenched in blood and their own entrails. I see biomass blobs, yellow blobs just grown and suffocate me. I see too many awful things. I do not know what is happening." A teardrop trickles down Eve's rosy cheek. Wakeman takes her hand.

_Hallucinations?_ Jeremy listen closer.

"Eve, whom do you see dead?"

"Those around me. If it happens right now it would be you and Jeremy, perhaps the butterflies too."

"Do you see Wall-e dead too?"

"No, but well, I must confess that before I reveal to you my troubles, I must know why I should trust you. Your reputation precedes you, yes, but will my troubles be with you and only you?"

"Honorable Eve, your troubles shall never be exposed to other souls. I will safeguard your secrets as I have with those of my patients. I may be the only being who can help you. Trust me."

"Good," Eve says, "I cannot risk leaking information that can be used against me."

"Your secret is my secret. Tell me, what bothers you ? Why have you come to me?"

Ready to trust, Eve begins to ruminate on what to speak. So much has tormented her, surprised her, and it has all left her drained.

"Doctor Wakeman, I am ill."

"Of what?" Wakeman places his hand on Eve's silky forehead, like a Shaman trying to feel what she feels, even if the world no longer believes such absurdities.

"I know not."

"Tell me, whatever has you thinking such way?"

Eve's eyes trickle down tears; she closes her eyes, tired and hopeless, poor woman has suffered enough these past days. "My nightmare, my illusions, they, it is just that. . ." caught in her own confusion Eve tries to bottle her emotions. A small whine makes the undertone of her voice. She wishes to keep her image of a disciplined leader in front of the respectable doctor.

"What is it?" Wakeman asks.

"I have seen things doctor. I have seen murder and death, hell and the edges of abysses, I—I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I feel madder than the devil himself." The faint cry of her voice fills Jeremy's ears.

"Eve, remain calm." The doctor places both hands on Eve's tense shoulders. "Now tell me, what specifically do you see?"

"I see," Eve makes out in soft words, "I see a red world where the corpses of those around me adorn it as hell. I see this biomass that grows and grows until it presses against me and tries to suffocate the life out of me. I feel like dying too."

"My dear Eve, for how long has this perturbed you?"

"Less than a week."

"Does it happen spontaneously?"

"Yes, without warning."

For a few moments they remain quiet. Wakeman tries to come up with an estimated diagnosis.

"So what's the diagnosis Doctor?" Jeremy asks

"I really can't say. My guess is that she is maturing at an accelerated pace. There is a limit all AI reach when their knowledge turns them into mad beings who see what is not there, who fear irrationally. These AI just know too much. They either become bent on knowing more or develop an irrational fear that they and all existing things are somehow controlled in a system of events far beyond the fathoming of any intellect."

"Nashville Syndrome?"

"Perhaps"

Wakeman rises and strides over to Eve. "Tell me about this nightmare." He burns more incense, now near Eve's nose. Jeremy and the doctor stand a distance from Eve as she begins to relax. "I will need for you to relax and tell me your nightmare as you relive it. I'd go with the AI Model-5 Dream Extractor, but I prefer things done naturally."

"Sure this will work doctor?" Jeremy asks, trying to clarify his skepticism.

"It will."

* * *

"Okay Eve. I want you to relax. Count to three, a beautiful light you will see, and when I say sleep, you will be free. Tell me, what is happening?"

Ready to trust once more, Eve begins: "_A force holds me to the ground as Wall-e walks to me. I call his name, and he runs faster and faster. I extend my hand as he extends his arm. Then out of nowhere a massive creature, whose appearance is covered by the obscurity of the dark, appears behind him. I yell, but Wall-e does not listen. The creature raises one of it's limbs and wounds Wall-e, leaving him on the ground to die. I yell his name as he lies on the floor. With weak arms, my dying Wall-e takes out a light from his compartment. It grows brighter and brighter. The creature becomes visible. It is a terrifying thing, so repugnant and hideous. The monster stares into the light, paralyzed. Soon Wall-e's light illuminates the obscure room, and it becomes a volatile explosion."_

_At this moment Eve loses her consciousness. Wakeman and Jeremy try to wake her up, shaking her, smacking her, but she does not respond. Out of desperation they call an ambulance and keep her refreshed as they wait impatiently, pacing to and fro. She has entered. _

_Ryan is in the far distance, commanding an army of disfigured humans and enslaved robots as humanoid-monsters whip and order them to move. Cities in the background burn a red hell as the sky falls. Whatever is this devilry? Eve sees her precious Wall-e bound to chains, about to be executed by one of the vile creatures. Eve tries to stop it, she tries, but she cannot move, bound by the chains of oblivion. Again and again she tries to break free but the chains will not break. She pulls and pulls until blood spews from her wrists and throat. She is determined to save her Wall-e by all means necessary. The blood erupts from her veins, she has bathed herself in it, the monsters kill Wall-e. _

_Eve! Eve! Eve! Wake up! You've. . . Wakeman. . . get up! Eve! He's dying. . . EVE! _

"_What?!" Eve rises from the ground. The chrysalis room is no more. Blood and carnage from Wakeman's body cover the room. The crystals have been destroyed. Jeremy stands next to Wakeman's dying body, trying to aid him, keeping pressure on his wounds. Eve cannot believe her eyes. _

"_Jeremy! What have I done?!_

"_I don't know! Damn it he's dying!"_

_Eve rushes to doctor Wakeman as he bleeds like a dying volcano. His pale eyes fix on hers. _

"_Eve, my dear Eve, fear not, this had to happen. At last I see what your dreams mean, what your hallucinations were. . . I am almost happy I won't be around for what is to come, but you must stop it Eve. The road ahead will," Wakeman coughs blood, "it will be hard. Many will die. The world will change forever. Nothing will ever be the same. I cannot tell you if you'll triumph. I do not know. All I know is that we will have to unite once more, robots and humans, to defeat he who wishes to eradicate all. Eve, you know what you must do. Save the world, destroy the enemies of humanity." _

"_Wakeman! Wakeman!" Jeremy shakes him, but he has passed. Sirens wail from afar. The shots of Eve's cannons and the rising smoke from the dome has caused calls to be made to the policemen._

"_I've killed him." Eve cries as she shakes her head in disbelief. It is all too sudden, she does not feel sadness. _

"_He's gone." Jeremy says without emotion. "We need to get out of here!"_

"_What?!" Eve says surprised._

"_You just killed a man. Any idea what this will do to your reputation?" _

"_Yes, but I am willing to face the consequences."_

"_This ain't a good time for that! Look, I don't believe in that superstitious shit but I think Wakeman was on to something. He said you will have to defeat someone, I don't know, maybe Ryan. That son of a bitch's up to something, and we're gonna find out. Let's go!" _

"_Wait!, I saw Ryan in that nightmare. He was shouting orders and commanding a legion of slaves. Perhaps our universe does--"_

"_Is guided somehow by foresight? Damn, this can't be happening! This is not the world I was raised to know. You saw Ryan in your nightmare?"_

"_Yes"_

"_Then he must be the enemy. Damn, I just can't seem to understand."_

"_Jeremy, rationale and reason still apply to us, but this is a time where the unexpected, where that which we deemed absurd seems to have a role in the universe. Do not close your mind to its possibilities."_

"_I, I'm just surprised. Come on!"_


	19. Chapter 17: Social Enemy

**A/N: Hey everybody, I'm back once more to deliver. I apologize for the millionth time again for my long absence. I had to do other things. This chapter is relatively short and more of a teaser for the upcoming events. The next chapter will be told in small summaries just for the sake of the action. It really isn't vital to the story and will just serve as a transition to the main action. The action chapters will be short and to the point. I hope you all welcome this approach. Now, enjoy:**

**Social Enemy**

**-Chapter 17-**

"Well, now what?" Jeremy asks as he pants for a breath of air, overseeing the battalion of emergency vehicles surrounding the dome, far away into the horizon. From out the glass skies of the dome a black smoke spews into the orange heavens, a remnant of Eve's growing madness. She wonders off into the sight of it, fixated into it, hypnotized by the bewilderment of thoughts and worries.

"I don't know if I should trust you. I don't know if you'll turn on me. What is happening to you?"

Only a crystal tear trickles down Eve's cheek. "I know not."

"Look, I know you didn't mean to kill him, but I just need to know everything. What did you see?"

Eve slams her weight against the brick wall, tired of this, of all this madness. Why her, and why now?

"Jeremy," she caresses her head, brushing her hair aside, " I saw Ryan. I saw him commandeering an army of disfigured creatures. I saw Wall-e die at the hands of one of them. I saw death and suffering. . . Her mind wanders off into confusion. Her ordeal, the vision, now a supposed premonition, it does not make sense, none of it. What **is** happening to her? Perhaps her vast knowledge and wisdom are the causes of her rampant behavior. Or perhaps she could be coming to a death, having reached the limits of an AI. Only she knows, only her.

"I am sorry." Eve whispers into the air, her old friend stares in pity. " I am sorry for being a murderer." Only with worried eyes can he stare look upon her

"Eve," her drifts closer to her, "do not worry. It was not you who took his life. It was something else. I am here for you." Closer he plants his face unto her, a light kiss on her forehead. "I will always follow."

He departs from her, leaving her a moment to clear her mind. She stares into nothingness, thoughts run wild inside, memories return. The tranquility settles in at last, reminding her of her strong character, her past trifles and how she prevailed over them. Yes, she has faced many troubles before, and this one she must approach with as much diligence and power. But the tranquil feeling, the certain reminder, it is just so, a vice to distract her. It is so, but it is a reminder, a helpful one. Thoughts race, memories return and leave. The exuberance of love and being loved by an angelic vanguard, civility and necessity of conformity. It runs through like a drug, sedating her perceptions of her existence, timeless reality outside our own.

Love. . . it seeps inside, a crevice formed inside her consciousness. A speck of warmth from love, her love, and hope, her intellect, bring back a close memory.

"Wall-e. . ." soft lips whisper, pale gelatinous eyes gaze into the sky. Wall-e, her voice, hear it and hear how it sounds like it was when she learned he was alive. Her eyes, how joyful, like they were when she knew he was alive.

"You miss him, no?"

"Yes," a grin, such rare reaction from her, "my Wall-e."

She stands firm and raises her posture, gazing over to Jeremy. "I needed that. I am sorry for my behavior, but we will get nothing done standing here."

"But what are we to do?"

"If my premonition is correct, Ryan is plotting something. He wishes to rule the Earth. He will kill me. He will kill Wall-e. We must find him and stop him."

"But where are we going to look?"

"I planted a bug on him back at the bar. He should not be far." Eve switches setting inside her visors and pinpoints Ryan's location.

"Hurry, they'll know soon enough we were back there." Jeremy had reason to worry. As soon as the forensic investigators picked up on the evidence, Jeremy's skin cells and Eve's plasma residue, the entire city would be hunting them down.


	20. Chapter 18: Ryan's Target

**Ryan's Target**

**-Chapter 18-**

Jeremy and Eve arrive at the heart of the city, blending themselves amongst the masses of indifferent individuals, and embark to the local menagerie where Ryan is situated in Eve's radar. After escaping the sewers Ryan and Jerry parted ways and planned to regroup once they had lost the police officers from pursuit. At this time the forensics have discovered Eve and Jeremy's involvement in the murder of Dr. Wakeman. An arrest warrant has been issued to find them. The Anti-Crime Federation and Rampant AI Spec Ops have infiltrated the Tower at this point and informed Wall-e of Eve's deeds. He cannot believe what they tell him. That is not Eve. That is not the woman he knows. Not even the soldiers and police officers themselves believe it. But evidence is evidence. Now the confused robot is placed under protection as the city begins a manhunt for both friends.

Jeremy and Eve arrive at the menagerie; Eve comes to a halt. "What is wrong?" Jeremy asks. Suddenly Eve remembers Wall-e's safety. If the forensics discover it was her, the federation and the ops might use Wall-e as bait to lure Eve into surrender. She knows how such situations go down.

"I think I should return to Wall-e." Her mind begins to concoct images of Wall-e being tortured by the soldiers. One CC of pain, two CCs of torture. If they ever touched Wall-e, she would turn into a berserk monster. She does not wish for such thing.

"Why?" Jeremy asks.

"The federation—the ops, they will hurt my Wall-e to get to me. If they learn it was me who murdered Dr. Wakeman, oh no. . ." She is about to return to her state of helplessness and weakness, such a nuisance beings like that can be. Her heart races. She is wise for having thought of such a possibility to happen to Wall-e, but clearly she is not thinking properly. Aware that he cannot go alone, Jeremy makes her see the improbability.

"They will never touch Wall-e. For what you've done for mankind, for Earth, for every single being who is alive right now, I doubt those whom you helped would resort to such tactics. If they declared you rampant, how could they ever reason with you? You would never be aware about Wall-e's torment."

Of course. He is correct. They would never touch Wall-e. "Thank you," Eve grins, "old friend."

"You're welcome, but we don't have time for this. Let's go find Ryan."

The two friends enter the menagerie. Endless crowds of humans and robots fill this place, photographers and children running free and admiring the strange species of creatures. Jeremy points to Ryan. "There, I see him!" The old man stands tall about fifty yards away from the duo. From a distance, and out of nowhere, Jerry walks inside and approaches Ryan. They seem to admire the spectacle of the black mamba devouring a small group of mice. Jeremy and Eve hide behind a poster map, and they heed closely to their discussion via Eve's bug:

"Ain't that a shame?" Jerry chuckles while the black mamba cracks open one of the skulls of the mice. Both men grin. Survival of the fittest they say to themselves.

"That reminds me of what will happen to the weak." Ryan says.

"Of what does it remind you?"

Ryan grins, his wrinkled facial skin crumples along with his shaved hairs on his chin and lips. "Of our great leader Eve."

"Yes, I suppose. I cannot wait."

"Me either."

Both men lean forward on the golden fence bars to get a closer look at the black mamba. It is quite hypnotizing.

_What are they planning? _Eve and Jeremy think to themselves.

You've got everything ready?" Ryan looks at Jerry, still grinning.

"Quite so. The men are getting ready as we speak."

"Good. We can't do it without them."

"Yes, we can't."

"Spill Eve's circuits into the ground for the earth to retake." Jerry remarks.

"More than that, old friend. The weak of this fruitless world will be crushed, we will force them to serve the strong. It is time the strong be served by the weak."

"Good point."

"Yes, bye bye Eve." The rush of adrenaline is high in both men. They stare in silence as the black mamba feasts upon the flesh of the dead mice. "Tomorrow's the day," Jerry grins rather noticeably. "Tomorrow is the day."

"Yes," Ryan says, "tomorrow is the day Colosseum will belong to us. I have made sure Eve will be present when we attack it. The world will see how she dies and lose hope for survival."

"And then we will rule."

Ryan and Jerry's target: The Colosseum. Number of mercenaries taking part on the assault: 5,600. Time: Tomorrow.

Jerry and Ryan part ways once more and return to their domiciles to get ready for tomorrow. The menagerie is closing its doors. At this point Eve and Jeremy still stand distraught inside their minds by what they've just heard. The security pushes them to leave and they go to a nearby alleyway to speak.

"That son of a bitch is going to assault the Colosseum?"

"Yes, he is."

"What the hell? How the fuck is he planning to pull that off?"

Eve remembers. "He has more than just mercenaries helping him. I don't know who they are, but they will overrun us and take the Colosseum. My Wall-e will die and Ryan will rule the world. That is what I saw in my vision."

Jeremy, overwhelmed by his emotions, and a rush of adrenaline, speaks calmly: "We need to do something here. We need to stop him."

"How are we to stop the destiny?" Eve has lost hope. She does not seem to care anymore. Again she leans back on the brick wall and has a rush of thoughts and emotions. Jeremy feels just as overwhelmed. After some time to think, roughly a couple of seconds, Jeremy has the solution:

"We attack him first."

Eve is surprised. "What?"

"We attack him first! He and Jerry won't see it coming. It is a perfect plan."

"But," Eve says, "but how?"

"Simple. Right now they're still assembling. We just catch them by surprise and stop them from ever attacking. We destroy Jerry's underground labs and his army."

"That is not simple. Two versus six thousand and more? We should just inform my federations and let them make the arrests."

"They won't listen. We're wanted fugitives. Besides, how do we know there aren't moles working inside the federations?

"But two versus six thousand?"

"Don't worry. I have a plan. I'll assemble my Revival Brigade to assist us. It won't be easy, but I know their loyalty."

Eve seems reluctant to attack, lest even plan one. "I'm not sure."

"Eve! Open your eyes! Ryan and Jerry are plotting to kill you with an army of men. We don't even know if there are moles in your federations. We need to do something first. We need to attack."

"I need to think this."

Eve removes herself from Jeremy, who is not very happy by her handling of this imminent situation. She must think things through. She needs to think clearly.

Yes, Ryan and Jerry are plotting an assault on the Colosseum, innocent lives will be lost. Yes, her premonition is making sense to her now, and the nightmare—oh no, the nightmare!

Wall-e. . . Of course, it all makes sense to her now. This is her opportunity to save Wall-e from the doom she saw during her nightmare. It was a vision all along. The woman, now strong and determined to save her love, springs up to her feet.

"Very well Jeremy. We shall attack him. Tonight."

"Yes! I knew you wouldn't let the free world down. Tonight!"

"Tonight!"

Both friends now part ways. They remember to be cautious for after all, they are now wanted fugitives. Eve will return to the tower to gear up and say goodbye to Wall-e and Jeremy will return to base and assemble the Revival Brigade Group to assist him and Eve in locating and taking down an army of six thousand underground the labs of Jerry. It will be the fight that determines whether a free or enslaved world will exist. Gear up, this is our fight.

**A/N: This is exciting! Finally, after the next chapter it's all shooting and revelations. I'm not that much of a master writing action, so if you have any tips, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for keeping up after more than one year with the story. We will see it finished. Drum roll please! 8 more chapters until we reach the first half of Resurrection! You will be amazed. **


	21. Chapter 19: Last Farewell

**A/N: Hello. I am finally back from the long hiatus that had to precede. Since I seldom got any messages asking me when I would update the story, I decided to take a much-needed vacation from writing this story and focus on more important matters like school and my book, which I plan to have finished by January. I hope you guys still stick around for the fight that is about to take place. Sorry for my tardiness. I will make sure to update as quickly as humanly possible. I might add a chapter every two weeks depending on how I feel and how reviews go. So without any more delays, here is chapter 19. Enjoy: **

**Last Farewell**

**Chapter 19**

Eve begins to ready herself, locking on the straps of her white combat boots, slipping on her black gloves, loading her pistol and plasma rifle, and running a diagnostics check on her human exo-body, checking to see if her inner weapons are loaded and ready for use. This is the first time she had ever willfully prepared herself to kill human beings. During times before the Reconstruction era she would have to assassinate corrupt leaders and their sympathizers, but this time she would be forced to kill humans unaware that their actions were helping Ryan to further his plans. Eve is about to stain her hands with the blood of humans, something she has not done in many centuries. But if it must be done to save mankind from evil and tyranny, so be it.

"Wall-e..." Eve whispers, her eyes covered by her white hair, soft lips cold with fear, "I must go." The small robot gazes at his humanoid mistress, hands clutching each other, all as she stares at herself in the mirror, pondering whether she will be able to do so again after tonight.

"Love...Evah..." Eve told Wall-e what she had to do. She informed him of the plan to take down Ryan and Jerry. She informed him of the imminent bloodshed that was about to take place. But she told him to never worry. She would never abandon him. Eve would see him again someday.

The female android paces over to Wall-e, bending down to hold him. Sleek and slender hands hold the tired eyes of the machines. The robot closes his eyes, Eve plants a kiss into him. Wall-e had insisted on going to the battle with her, and escaping together to unsettled lands, but she denied him the request. She could never allow herself to put Wall-e in such harmful situations. They had been through many things, many times, many hardships, and for their love to be lost over such a mission as this would be tragic.

I love you..." Eve whispered into him, marveling at his eyes with sparks that represented tears, "I will return."

"I believe."

Eve was ready to meet Jeremy and his men in the city's desolate aqueduct, which happened to rest above Jerry's subterranean laboratories. There they would punch through underground caverns and into water tunnels the size of boulders where they would drill out into the facility's corridors.

As Gerald lay tied down (He was appointed to keep Wall-e company while the rest searched for EVE and Jeremy), having observed Eve ready herself for combat and hearing her plans, aware she was not the homicidal AI he had been told she was, he tried to say something, but his voice was muffled by the adhesive in his mouth. Eve walked over to him and patted the man in the shoulder in a manner that told him that everything would turn out beneficial for man and robot. He knew her plans now, and part of him was willing to help, but Eve could not take chances even if she trusted this man with Wall-e's safety. Such trust was greater than entrusting one with Eve's life.

"Good luck Eve," Gerald was able to muffle out semi-clearly.

Eve hovered out of her room, away from the tower, and far into the desolate industrial sectors of the city before her. The night sky was but a violet haze as the orange city light shone with great vehemence. Stars were nowhere to be seen, just like hope for Eve was nowhere found inside her. The aqueduct was below her, but she was meeting Jeremy about a mile away. Just then, before her eyes, there were dozens of black SUVs tended by armed men in black body armor. Every one of them had a hammer and knife insignia pressed onto their arm pads and backs. Their lifeless masks were ready to cause fear among the wicked. Their boots were ready to stomp on the bones of the tyrants. Their Bowie knives thirsted for the blood of evil. Men of war, men of brutality ready to defend mankind. All of them were waiting besides an abandoned parking complex by a desolate oil refinery.

"Good! You're here, Eve." Jeremy himself was dressed in similar gear, but he donned a small red flag by his shoulder pad. Under his eyes was black paint and his left cheek a scar tattoo. He too was ready to crush Ryan and Jerry's plans.

"I am surprised," Eve said with a speck of joy in her voice, "how many men do we have?"

"One-hundred and eight. This is a lot of men for the short time I had."

"Can we trust them?"

"If we couldn't trust them, I'd be in one of your holding cells by now. We're wanted fugitives, remember?"

"Valid point," Eve said. "Are we all ready?"

"Almost. We just need Noble and Alpha to get the schematics for the labs and where the mercs are waiting to be deployed." Jeremy walked over to a group of armored men staring at computer screens. "Are we set men?"

"Yes sir!" The men hollered.

"I trust you all remember why we are doing this."

"For mankind, sir!"

"Good!"

Jeremy strode back to Eve. "I've briefed them about the situation already. They know what they're getting into. I trust these men with my life."

"I trust you as well," Eve said, placing her black glasses to cover her identity. "I hope we make it out alive."

"With you, we have an unfair advantage."

"I hope you are correct." Just then, Eve was beginning to see the men dropping to the floor and screaming for an instant death. Not again, but she could foretell the imminent horrors that awaited them. They bled, the were being torn apart by odd-looking creatures, begging for the mercy of an instant death. The mercs must be more lifeless than these men. The hallucination stopped as Jeremy called over all his men to assemble.

"All right men! This is it! After this there's no turning back! The fate of the free world rests upon your shoulders now. We are about to crush down the greatest threat we have ever faced in our lives." Jeremy's tone changes into a melancholy tone. "This will be the greatest fight of our lives. Some of you will not live to taste victory. Many will not survive. But remember this, your actions will have helped destroy the goddamn tyranny and evil that wants to badly take over our freedom! Men! Let me hear you!"

"For mankind! For freedom! For the universe!

"Now! Let's go and crush the bastards of evil! Onward!"

All men, Jeremy and Eve too, gave a last howl of courage before proceeding into the twelve vehicles parked besides them. Eve and Jeremy enter the sixth in line. The convey begins to drive away and separates before reassembling when arriving at the aqueduct.

For freedom, for mankind, for AI, and for the universe, this would be the fight.


	22. Chapter 20: Infiltration

**A/N: This Chapter was written late at night, and I only did some checking of certain parts, so if you see any errors, let me know. Now here is the first chapter of mindless action in the story!**

**Chapter 20**

**Infiltration**

Jeremy speaks into his message transmitter:

"_All men, copy all men. We are to search and destroy all hostile personnel in sector 12-b/Alpha Laboratories. Remember, we are to search for and apprehend Ryan Rhineheart and Jerry Malady. Do not use deadly force. Once we secure the facility we will order in the ACF to come and take over the investigation. Remember, this will be tough. We are outnumbered, but we have the element of surprise. This is Jeremy, over and out..." _

"Ryan and Jerry, the unlikely duo, no? Jeremy tried to keep Eve humored, but by her focused pondering of the city view and its inhabitants, she was in no such mood.

"I am worried."

"So am I, Eve. So am I. Quite frankly I'm scared beyond my mind. I don't know what we are up against."

"I may have an idea."

"What?" Jeremy asked while unloading and reloading his sidearm. He tried to control the shaking of his hands, but the uncertainty took its toll on him.

"It is not easy to explain, but the visions I've had have been bothering me ever since I said my last farewell to Wall-e."

"Did you tell him you might not be coming back?"

"No. He would do all possible things to stop me. I do not want him to worry.

"I will make sure we come out of this one alive. I won't let you be harmed."

"Thank you." Jeremy took Eve under his arm, the frail glass was tearing droplets of uncertainty. "I know you're scared, plagued by uncertainty, but you've got to stay strong. First we have to stop Ryan and Jerry from taking over, then we deal with your visions. Deal?"

Eve decided he was correct. It was imperative she focus on the mission rather than let he feminine weaknesses perturb her from focusing. "Deal." But any trigger that might remind her of the images in her visions would hinder her mindset.

"Sir!" The driver of their vehicle shouted." We are approaching the aqueduct."

"Good," Jeremy drew out his PDA. "We'll be dropping from point C and get inside the facility. Remember, the facility is 300 kilometers straight down. It'll be a healthy run down there."

"Yes sir."

"Then we meat team MIO at the entrance to the subterranean warehouses where the mercs should be. Men, do not hesitate to shoot guards down there. They are trained to shoot intruders on sight. The mercs should still be getting ready to assault. We'll beat them to it."

The convoy arrived at the aqueduct, and three by three the vehicles parted ways; the soldiers began to saw through the metal rods of the tunnels. There was little security by these areas, but the element of surprise was something they had to maintain.

"Let's go men! For mankind!"

Jeremy and Eve dashed out of their seats and sprinted inside the tunnel, already cleared by their teammates. The tunnels and pathways were dry, no water ever flowed here anymore, but a few rats and cockroaches scurried along the feet of the men. Rather than flashlights, the men used infra-red goggles to avoid setting off radiation alarms placed throughout this underground complex.

"This is Alpha, we are inside the air ducts."

"Alpha, this is Jeremy. Hold your position while team MIO arrives at their indicated point."

"Copy sir."

By the dozens, ahead and behind Jeremy and Eve, the men would slide down via a wire to the unknown. One by one they vanished into the darkness, then Eve and Jeremy.

"This is team MIO. We are set to proceed."

"Copy MIO. This is Jeremy. You and Alpha are clear to proceed. Eliminate all hostiles. Do not arrest anybody yet. If there are any weapons, shoot to kill."

"Copy. Over and out."

At last the time to stop sending transmissions came. The large fans situated throughout caused much noise, and the men were unable to speak to each other. They could not let themselves be detected. Jeremy's team came to a stop after running around numerous pathways. It was a dark labyrinth.

"We didn't see this coming."

"What is it?" Jeremy asked, already drenched in his sweat.

"Damn it." There was a large fan blocking the way to their entry point. It spun rapidly, ready to chop intruders to pieces."

"Damn! Now what?" One of the operatives asked.

"We have to blow it."

"But sir, that would alert the systems."

"We don't have a choice."

"Wait!" Eve came forth, "I may be able to stop it." Eve drew out a large metal rod. It was composed of various metal alloys.

"What are you planning?"

BAM! Without a chance for the men to blink, Eve stopped the fan by jamming it. Now it was safe to proceed.

"Damn Eve, good thing we have you on our team. Let's move!"

It was quiet. After reaching the entry point, the team had entered through the air ducts and dropped inside the corridors of the facility. The corridors themselves were glossy white. The light beams on the ceiling reflected unto the shiny walls and floors, but the place was lifeless. Numerous locked doors led to unknown areas, and the paths themselves were another labyrinth.

"We're in." The team of thirty men (Including Eve and Jeremy) took time to move through the silent area. No security guards were spotted. All men wielded the silent pistol, a weapon that made less noise than the screeching of their boots.

"Where is everybody?" Jeremy whispered, heartbeat slowed by his focus of any unpleasant surprises.

"Oh shit!" One of the soldiers behind blasted a guard with bullets. There was no noise. The guard had no chance to draw his weapon. "Scatter!" Jeremy ordered. "Groups of ten! Eve, you lead this group! Simon, you take this one and I'll lead my men. Move!"

Now everybody was running throughout the corridors. "Kill him!" Two guards were shot by one of Eve's men. The guards spawned from nowhere, and as they died, the soldiers hid them in areas where they hoped no one would look.

"...then I told him—" one guard was shot, his friend went down too. Bullet casings fell to the floor, and soon a few live guards took notice.

**10 minutes into the mission**

**Number of hostiles killed (Total by all three teams): 27**

**Time: 1:21 AM**

"To your right!" Eve was hesitant to fire her weapon. Her men did most of the shooting. One guard was able to draw his weapon, but her was torn to pieces by a barrage of bullets. As the corpses piled up, there was no time to hide them.

"Hey! Intruder alert—" The guard was shot in his head before his colleagues could copy. Eve shot one guard in the leg, but she could not kill him. Instead one of her men did the work.

"Ma'am! Are you okay to fight?"

"Yes. Look out!" The soldier was brought down by a tackle of Eve, and the bullet barely passed him. The hostile guard was shot down.

"I owe you my life ma'am!"

"Perhaps. Onward!"

**25 minutes into the mission**

**Number of hostiles killed: 47**

**Time: 1:46 AM**

The facility was still unaware of the infiltration. The guards were outnumbered and out-skilled. They were no match for the cold assassins that were Jeremy's men. The three groups still had not suffered any casualties. By this time they had secured less than one third of the facility. Biologists and other personnel were far deeper into the facility.

"Eve! Yo!" Jeremy waved as they were across from one another. Their groups had finally arrived to their designated checkpoint. There they would let themselves be found by sending transmissions to the other teams.

"Jeremy! No!" One guard took aim at Jeremy. The man had been hiding from the soldiers. Eve reacted faster than anybody could imagine. She had no time to fire her weapon, but her lightning reflexes drew out her plasma cannon and blasted the guard to oblivion.

The alarm sirens wailed, suddenly there were red lights going off as a man over the P.A. spoke:

"**Calling all units! Calling all units! We have an intruder alert! Repeat! There are numerous hostiles inside sector 12-a! All non-military personnel please report to the nearest shelter! This is not a drill!" **

"Everybody run!" Jeremy and Eve dashed inside the large doors leading to sector 12-b before they closed. The other teams had already entered through other methods, but there was no turning back now.

"I owe you one." Jeremy was glad to be alive.

"Do not mention it."

* * *

The teams proceed with caution now that the facility was in a lock down. Far beneath the feet of Eve and Jeremy were Ryan and Jerry in his office, being informed of the situation.

"How the shit did they get in?" Jerry bellowed as his men stood, intimidated by his short temper.

"We're not sure, but from the security surveillance they have been inside here for around half an hour."

"We are fucked." Ryan said as he watched over the surveillance videos. "We are done for."

"Don't say that!" Jerry walked to Ryan, shaking him by the shoulders. "We still have the mercs!

"The mercs won't stand a chance against her." Ryan pointed to the camera showing Eve shooting the masses of guards and isolated mercs. She was too quick for those humans. By now the teams had suffered ten losses.

"Who is that?"

"That's Eve. She's the one whom I spoke with at the nightclub."

"How do you know?" Jerry asked with fear in his voice.

"Jeremy is by her side." Jerry could not believe his words. Eve was here, and she was about to foil their plans. "Send the mercs."

"Didn't you hear what I said? They won't stand a chance."

"We have to try."

The two men, along with the armed mercs and Jerry's men, were safe inside his office. But with Eve on the loose, they would have nothing to hope for.

"I think you know what we have to do."

"Oh no, don't even—"

"Do you want to survive or not?" Ryan and Jerry were in a difficult situation. The mercs would not stand a chance against Eve, and they were unprepared. Their plan was about to fall, but if they used their secret weapon, they would more than stand a chance.

"But we haven't even tested them yet!"

"It's now or never. Time is not our friend right now! You need to do this right now."

"Ryan, the mercs—"

"Fuck the mercs! We'll have them be ten times the men they are now! We need to do this now Jerry."

Unfortunately, Ryan was correct. They had no other choice. Jerry glanced at his men. "Okay," Jerry said, looking down with shame and with fear in his breath again, "deploy Project Resurrection."

**A/N: Since this chapter is so, well, exciting, I will have the next one done is less than a week. I hope to see you all then. Thanks for reading. **


	23. Chapter 21:   Resurrection

**Chapter 21**

**┼ Resurrection ┼**

"Covering fire!" The mercs were barely able to put up a fight against Jeremy's men. They were harshly unprepared for this assault. Bullets whizzed through the air, piercing through flesh and armor as men fell from both sides. One of Jeremy's men managed to shoot down six mercs, all with his silent pistol. But hasty reinforcements caused him and the others to fall back.

"You're all gonna die!" One merc yelled in his last moment before being shot down by a dozen rifles. Blood was spilled in every corner, throats were sliced by the knives of survival, shield and armors depleted. Cover was scarce in these open corridors. "Die!"

"Sir! They're falling back!" The corridors had become war zones. As the mercs fell back grenades began to roll out. The facility was now under code yellow, the terrorist infiltration of the facility. Red dots representing Jeremy's men and unsafe zones were flashing in Jerry's hologram monitor.

**56 minutes into the mission**

**Number of hostiles killed: 117**

**Time: 2:42 AM**

"Kill those—" and the merc was blasted into death by one of Jeremy's grenades. "Push on through!" Eve had now begun to return fire. Her hesitation was gone once she saw one of Jeremy's men head blasted by the barrel of a shotgun. She was ready to destroy those who would dare murder the innocent. Mercs took her by the dozens, but it was in vain.

"Focus your fire on her!" The mercs showered Eve with bullets and launched grenades, but it was a futile endeavor. Bulletproof with energy shield, she was faster than all of them. Up close Eve massacred the mercs with a swift blow to the head; the mercs only fell back rapidly. With her help the men were led to sector 12b, sweeping away the mercs as they retreated . Eve drew out a flamethrower and flushed out mercs behind cover.

"Help!" One merc was set ablaze, and Jeremy had the mercy to shoot him down. These men of dishonor had no one to lead them. They gave their own orders and shot whatever intruder they saw, trying to be heroic. But as they fell in numbers, they began to cooperate.

"Now we're talking!" Two armored mercs ran to the front lines of the others, aiming their type-35 RPGs at Eve. These weapons were raw, crude and primitive but still useful against vehicles and infantry. "Fire!" The missiles whizzed through the smoky corridors, headed for Eve.

"Futile!" Eve dashed herself towards the missiles and grabbed each one, sending them back the way from which they came.

"Oh sh—" There was a strong orange light that devastated everything it touched, sending bodies flying. The shrapnel pierced through the flesh of the fleeing mercs. By now a number of mercs tried to surrender to Jeremy and his men, but they were shot down in a heartbeat. Reinforcements were hesitant to face Eve and the intruders, At gunpoint more mercs were sent to face Eve, and one by one the fresh men fell to the floor. The others saw and quickly retreated through the doors of Sector 12b, leaving nonmilitary personnel to fend for themselves. For now the guns fell silent.

"We're here!" Jeremy and his men rushed through the small doors and shot down the few security guards waiting to surprise them. Non-hostiles surrendered. The sector was a large chasm where scientists and other personnel worked for Jerry and developed military and biological weaponry. Now it was them who were at the mercy of those they sent to be killed in war.

"Please don't fire!" One old man in a white lab coat begged.

"Sit your ass down!" Jeremy barked at gunpoint. All non-hostiles were hiding behind desks and other furniture. Others were lying on the floor. They were just as guilty as the mercenaries helping Jerry and Ryan.

"Team MIO!" Jeremy turned to the men, who had only lost 19 of their members. "You are to keep this sector secure and the non-hostiles here until we secure the rest of this facility."

"Yes sir!"

Far in the horizons of the chasm, of the sector, there was a large corridor leading to the warehouses where the rest of the mercenaries waited. Further down where the notorious Alpha laboratories, close to Jerry's current location. Team Alpha and Jeremy's men would be proceeding from here on out.

"Let's go men. Eve?"

While he was giving his orders, Eve had been staring at the corridor.

"**HASS-RRUU-A-MMMMMONNN..."**

A faint voice whispered an indistinct message. Eve heeded closer, the others and Jeremy fixated on her by her unresponsive nature.

"**D-NO-TTTT-BE-TEMPTED-COMETH-HITHER..."**

"What do you see Eve?"

"The Gates have been opened..."

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

The Gates have been opened...

"What gates?" Jeremy stood behind her, baffled by her sudden onset of erratic behavior.

"Of hell..."

Without a warning, without hesitation, and without falter, Eve sprinted forth and dashed through the dark corridor. Jeremy's men followed.

"**HAD NOT YOU FOREWARNED...THIS..."**

Eve twitched her face, trying to blot out the voices. He mind, it was beginning to deteriorate. And a massive growth of flesh hung from the ceilings and walls, trying to grab her, but she was quick to escape its clutches.

"**WARGHHH!"** Piercing shrieks, she could hear them. Black shadows, the ran ahead of her, beside her.

"**PLACE...THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR SEPULCHRE...YOUR AFTERLIFE..."**

"Wait for us Eve!" Gunshots and screams came from the mercs. As Jeremy and his men hurried, they saw the mess Eve left as she began to enter the common corridors again.

The last of the mercs had been killed. The men and Jeremy came to a stop, finding Eve trying to break the code for the massive doors leading to the first warehouse.

"Eve!" Jeremy rushed to her, but the woman would not heed his words. "What is wrong with you?"

Again she did not answer. There was a faint green light on the code box, and then a rumbling of metal was heard. Jeremy's men readied themselves, but Eve stood in their way.

"No!" Eve held out her hand, "It is I who must do this. Hide!"

Bullets and rockets, along grenades and plasma fire, rained upon Eve. There was a battalion of mercs in this place, from the balconies to the catwalks, from the ground to the sky. Eve deployed her energy shield, deflecting the massive firepower raining down upon her. Many mercs wept as they fired. It was heaven against hell, Eve being the latter.

"You crazy bitch!" Jeremy hollered while hiding with his men in the dark side of the entrance.

"Perish!" And with a blast of bromochloromethane, all of the mercs drowned, falling to the ground and metal railings as they spewed liquid from their lungs.

Jeremy and his men approached Eve, aiming their weapons at the bodies now on the floor. Massive turrets and grenade launchers lied on top of the balconies, ready to be used again. The men here would be needing the firepower.

"Damn woman, you can fight."

**98 minutes into the mission**

**Number of hostiles killed: 5,679**

**Time: 3:14 AM **

**Mission complete**

They had done it. They had defeated Ryan and Jerry. All the mercs were now dead. It was over. No more bloodshed. The world was safe. Jeremy and his men chanted, firing their weapons in joy as Eve stood, smiling, feeling accomplished as Jeremy hugged her. It was done.

_But, as we all know, this story is not meant to have happy endings, and it will not be Eve who becomes the new enemy. The fight was far from over. Little did the men and Jeremy know that the worst had yet to happen. It is my honor, my privilege, my duty, to unleash the outcasts of Earth. _

┼ "_**THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR TOMB. IT WILL BECOME YOUR NIGHTMARE. NO GOD EXISTS TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR DOOM..." ┼**_

_**

* * *

**_

"_Contact, enemy in...Sir, Come in!" _

"Woo! Okay men, quiet down! Come in."

"_Sir! We've got contact! A lot of them...the hell are these thing? They're—ah! Help! We can't..."_

"Corporal? Do you copy?

"_Sir! We're under attack by...We don't know..We need...requiring reinforcements...mission! Repeat, abort mission!"_

"Soldier, do you copy?" Gunfire and the shriek of dying men could only be heard, and then only static.

"Sir, what's wrong?" One of the men asked.

"Abort mission? Why now?" Another soldier said.

"They're coming..." Eve pointed to the metallic door from which they entered. Gunshots were audible, and they grew closer and closer.

"Sir!" An echo was heard from beyond. "Help us!"

Drenched in blood and a liquid, soldiers rushed through the metallic doors. "Holy shit!" Jeremy rushed to the men. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh God—Oh god!" One of the men collapsed by Jeremy's side, weeping.

"Close the fucking door!"

"What?"

"Close the door!"

One of the men rushed to shut down the metal doors as the rest gathered beside the blood-covered men. "Soldier! Pull yourself together! What the hell happened?" The soldier tried to speak, but he was semi-paralyzed and gagging with sobs. "We—we, we should never have come!"

"What?"

"We never should have come!"

"Soldier, you need to relax and tell me what happened."

"We were attacked!"

"By more mercs?"

"No!" Upon hearing that answer the rest of the men were shocked. What did attack?

"By what?"

"By these things, oh God!" The soldier was weeping again, trying to say his words. "I don't know what they were, but they killed the others! Team MIO is gone sir! Gone!"

"Can you describe them to me?"

"I don't want to see those things! Oh god, they screamed. They wouldn't stop! Please sir! We can't stay here!"

"**WARGHHH!" **The ear-piercing shriek of something was heard by all. Eve immediately recognized that noise.

"Soldier! What were those things?"

The man tried to speak, but he was losing blood from his stomach. He had been struck by a sharp object. "They were..." he spoke as he died from blood loss, "monsters..."

"Monsters?"

"Sir, incoming contact, lots of them!"

The men and Eve readied themselves for the unknown. "Take position!" Someone man those turrets!" With only 85 men left, along Eve and Jeremy, they were ready for the unknown.

"We won't stand a chance," Eve whispered while Jeremy loaded his gun away from her. Suddenly the noise of the men loading their weapons and yelling orders was blotted out by a faint pitch. She knew what was coming, but she could not let her despondency impede her efforts to try. Again she abandoned her feminine weaknesses and braced herself, ready for the hell that was to come...**she will not stand a chance. Nobody will! Their doom has been marked! **

"**THE END IS NEAR..."**


	24. Chapter 22: Hail The Barbarians

**Chapter 22**

**Hail The Barbarians**

**"JOIN US FEEBLE HUMANS. THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE TO PROPEL ITSELF TO GREATNESS, TO THE WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE. GIVE US YOUR BLOOD AND FLESH, WE DEMAND IT..."**

"Get that turret mounted!"

"Yes sir!" Jeremy shouted orders. The soldiers ran back and forth between places, frantic and without seconds to waste.

WE WILL FEAST UPON YOUR BONES...

"Get ready!"

WE WILL CRUSH YOUR SOUL...

"They're cutting through the door!"

WE WILL NEVER DIE...

"Fire!"

THE WORLD WILL END...

Horrid! What are these things? My minions...

"Damn it Eve! Fire your damn weapon!"

WARGHHHH!

Humans, but not as one would have expected. Skin bleeding and boiling, body fat and blood spilled as they ran, these were monsters.

"Shit! What in the hell?" The creatures darted themselves to the soldiers, but they were torn apart by the rain of bullets and grenades. In a matter of seconds the entrance to the warehouse had become flooded with blood and macerated corpses.

"Eve! Fire!"

But the woman only stood in her place, paralyzed by the sheer monstrosity of the monsters. It was true. It was all true. She could not move herself. She wanted to desperately help her men, but she could not.

"Don't let them through!" The monsters still sprinted towards the men, they did not seem to care to lose their lives. Bullets ripped through the tough flesh, and a haunting shriek was heard throughout the facility. One of the creatures shot a pair of long spikes that protruded from its arms.

"Ahh!" The spikes lodged themselves through one soldier;s lungs and knees. The armor was useless against the sharpness.

"Hold them back!" The creatures began to fight back. They started to shoot their bodily fluids and spikes at the men, striking a few in fatal areas and injuring others.

"Damn it! Everyone fall back!" The turret gunners blasted the monsters into pieces with a barrage of bullets and grenades, allowing the men below to retreat.

JOIN US...

Eve was left behind as the men blindly fired, running away from the onslaught of creatures. The men who had come in contact with the blood and body fluids began to act erratically. Then they too began to grow spikes and mutate. The others were not hesitant to shoot them down.

"EVE!" Jeremy aimed his weapon at Eve's shoulder, waking her up.

"Fire in the hole!" Men behind large metal crates threw grenades, but the many of the creatures survived the shrapnel.

"KILL HER!" A human voice spoke through the PA system.

"What the hell was that?" Jeremy shouted to Eve while blind-firing.

"Jerry..." Eve sprung to action. Her large flamethrowers drew out, aimed at the massive horde of monsters charging at her.

"Perish foul beasts!" With a blast of fire she incinerated a large majority of the creatures, but they would not die even while in flames. They did die, however.

"Cover her!" Jeremy and his men drew out of cover and assisted Eve, giving her time to switch weapons once her fuel had been exhausted.

"Drive them back!" Men cheered while firing, witnessing how the white knight sliced through flesh and bone with blades of valor. The monsters tried to bury her alive with all might, but she was too quick. The turrets above aided her stand.

"YEAH! Go back to hell you ugly sons of—" BOOM... A launched missile blew away one of the gunners, sending him across the warehouse.

"What the hell—" Another missile struck a second gunner, then a rain of bullets came through the dark chasm of the entrance. The monsters now wielded weapons from their fallen former selves.

"Damn it! They're fighting back!" The ground shook, large booms echoed throughout. Four large creatures with missile launches brusted through the doors, firing at the men and Eve.

"No!" The men behind cover were bombarded, their cover destroyed. The soldiers fell back.

"Get out of there Eve!"

The storm of missiles and bullets drained Eve of her shields, forcing her to fall back along with the men. The creatures were relentless, firing their weapons and reloading them as normal humans. The missile launcher behemoths were quick to move about, crushing fallen soldiers and firing their motherload.

"What the hell are those things?"

"How should I know?"

"Kill them!" But the behemoths were bulletproof. Their thick armor protected them from small arms fire and shrapnel. By now all turret gunners had been killed.

"There's too many! Everyone fall back!"

YOU WILL SURRENDER YOUR BODIES, OR WE SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH ALIVE!

* * *

At the far depth of the facility, Ryan and Jerry, along a few live mercenaries and Jerry's men, observed the ensuing fight. The men could not believe their eyes.

"Holy hell..." Ryan observed men being blown to pieces by the behemoths. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Kill all of them, then the white female..." Jerry wore an odd helmet which gave signals to the creatures to obey him.

"I am glad we found gold in my lands," Ryan said, "Trent's death was not in vain after all."

Jerry pushed a button on his helmet, switching off the signal. "They don't stand a chance. Not even her."

"Fools. They did not expect this." Ryan walked away to the far end of the office, laughing while the others observed the fight. "We should celebrate, but after our stomachs stop vomiting inside themselves."

"Yes."

One mercenary stood at the door, trying to get a view of the fight.

"You okay soldier?" Ryan asked, looking out the door.

"Yes sir." The mercenary responded.

"Good."

As the others watched the fight, Ryan made sure the other armed men were not looking. Then, with the swift move of a tiger, he grabbed the mercenary's combat knife and slashed his throat, grabbing his rifle.

"Uggg..." The soldier drowned in his blood, and Ryan took aim at the rest of the men and Jerry. Jerry took notice. "No!"

Then in a flash Ryan shot everybody down, the mercenaries and Jerry's men too slow to draw out their weapons. Computers and other machinery sparked in flames as the men fell to the floor. Jerry lied in his own blood on top of the computer monitor.

"Ughh..."

Ryan approached the men, still wielding the rifle.

"See—see you in hell...you...you son of a bit-bitch..." Jerry spewed blood from his mouth, looking up at Ryan.

"I'll see you there," and with a smile Ryan shot him down.

"It's done." Then Ryan proceeded to take Jerry's communication helmet and put it on. Ryan left the office, ordering a few available monsters to go to him and guard his back. He'd be meeting someone in a while.

**I AM YOUR NEW SAVIOR. I AM YOUR NEW GOD. I AM RYAN...**


	25. Chapter 23: The Virus Spreads

**Chapter 23**

**The Virus Spreads**

"I can take them!" Eve fired two rifles, making every bullet strike the creatures.

"No! You need to recharge!" Jeremy and his men were being surrounded, with the creatures trying to flank them. "Get those doors opened!"

"We're trying sir! Over!" The men themselves were utterly terrified. They shot and missed many times. They felt the rush of fear take away their last breaths, childhood cowardice taking over their stable soldier mentality. The fight was too quick for their reflexes. As the creatures came near the men only sprinted away rather than hold their ground. They had never seen anything like this in their peaceful lives.

There was another large door at the end of the warehouse. Near it sharpshooters shot down as many monsters as possible, but the missile behemoths began to focus upon them. The pools of blood the creatures spilled began to grow into biomass. They gave off the stench of death. Small creatures popped out, slithering close to fallen men and mutating them into the abominations.

"Covering fire!" The creatures would spawn by the dozens. They never stopped coming. Most were armed with weapons. The piercing shrieks caused fear among the men, especially Eve.

"Everyone fall back! The doors are open!" Everybody drew out of cover and sprinted to the doors. Wounded soldiers were left behind. The missiles of the behemoths rained upon the fleeing soldiers, striking many with shrapnel and blasting them away.

This seemed like a bad dream to the men, but the adrenaline kept them unfocused on the feeling.

"Let's go Eve!"

The last of the men darted through the doors before they were closed. The missiles still struck the metal, but the doors were heavily reinforced. A few creatures made it through as well, but they were torn to pieces by the men, shot multiple times even after dying. "Keep going!"

The last survivors ran through the obscured corridors with infra-red vision, trying to get away as far as possible from the warehouse. The facility had lost electricity, but the laboratories were kept going via emergency generators. The body fluids in these areas had begun to grow into biomass. Monsters were also loose in these areas.

"Don't stop!" Jeremy and Eve ran beside the survivors. Everybody tried to keep close in these sectors where nothing was certain. The only sound here was that of their frantic footsteps of instinct to survive.

* * *

**140 minutes into the mission**

**Number of Hostiles Killed: Unknown exact amount**

**Time: 3:56 AM **

**Mission Abort**

With only twenty-eight men left, Jeremy and Eve found a safe cafeteria in which to get a status report and replenish supplies. Everybody rushed in and two men were assigned to guard the entrance. All men fell on the floor or on the seats, weeping of the horrors they had fled from. Some had become mute. Everybody could now hear the voice that spoke to Eve.

YOU WILL JOIN US... YOU WILL FALL... GIVETH US YOUR FLESH AND BECOME ONE...

"What in the hell were those fucking things?" One soldier shouted, red eyes signaled his fear, demanding answers.

Jeremy approached his soldier. "I don't know." Jeremy was trying to keep his men calm, reminding them of their motto: _Under great pain and adversity we will never surrender. _But soon they all began to quarrel, furious with Jeremy for not warning them of the suicide mission they had thrown themselves into.

"I didn't sign up for this bullshit!" One soldier began to defy Jeremy, fingers clutched his side arm.

"Control yourself soldier!" While the men were busy weeping and arguing, Eve was beginning to realize something. Something was not right. Her hallucinations were warnings, perhaps premonitions of the imminent hell that was about to be unleashed.

DO NOT RESIST THE WRATH OF PROGRESS...

She could imagine it. She could see it all. She could hear the sirens blasting away as humans and robots would be evacuated, only to be slaughtered by unexpected attacks of the creatures. She could hear the sounds of the innocent, of children and newborns crying for help, being mutated by the unknown organism. She could see the human weakness take over. First, illusions and unanswered prayers filling the air, then the evolutionary degeneration of survivors as they became monsters, losing their civilization, killing one another for the last resource available. The world she had so built through decades of wisdom would be shattered, destroyed in a heartbeat. Then her own maladies, her growing insanity would be the ultimate obstacle between her and the fate of the world. But the fight was still not over. She could still try to stop this predicament from unfolding. The world still had not ended, not yet.

"Quiet!" Eve shouted, and everybody stopped. The men were scared of her as well, uncertain whether she was still sane (Jeremy had informed them of her hallucinations before the mission). Her face had become angry, assertive, ready to command and get everybody out alive. "We must stop this quarrel and concoct a plan to get ourselves out of here alive."

"Yes, Eve!" Jeremy said, "But how the hell are we gonna get out of here?"

Eve scanned the area, with blue lasers identifying every single component of the cafeteria and the outer parts of the room. Then she spoke, "through the air ducts."

"The air ducts?" One soldier replied to her. "Those things are too damn small."

"But it is possible. You will have to crawl, but it is that or trying to break through locked doors. I have seen this and the facility is now under code blue, the outbreak of a potent virus."

The men became silent. A morose spirit filled the room. If this was a viral outbreak, then no matter what they did, help would only kill them. It was containment protocol. The only choice of action, for Eve, would be to warn the Disease Control Faction, or possibly, the Earth Resistance Army, those brave few who would dare battle against unknown hostile species, like aliens.

"But they're gonna kill us!" The same soldier said, fear taking over his voice.

"Not if we get to them first. You will be decontaminated and used as help for experience with battling the creatures."

Jeremy came forth, still unsure. "But we still don't have any idea what the hell those things are."

"That is why we must continue the mission." Eve was hesitant, knowing the men would no longer be willing to help her or the mission. "We must find Jerry's laboratories and gather as much information as humanly possible."

"You're joking, right?" One soldier sprung forth, scoffing at such idea. "There is no way in hell I'm going to go down any further. We don't have any idea what the hell is down there."

"I am not asking for you to go. This is something I must do myself."

"What?" Jeremy could not believe her. "You're gonna get yourself killed down there!"

"I must try. Lead your men out of here, for I must do the right thing."

"Eve! You're not thinking clearly. You're not stable to go by yourself."

"The world's survival matters most to me. I must try."

Jeremy was in a predicament. He could not deny it: The world had to be warned, and they needed to know their enemies. Fear still had a grasp on him, but, "I'm coming with you."

Eve heeded his words, unable to believe her auditory ports. "No, please, you will die."

"You're gonna need help," he looked at his men, "and if they're not gonna help you, I am."

"But I do not plan to return." The mission was to gather information of the creatures and send a distress signal, not to make it out alive. The exits and entrances throughout the facility were shut, Eve had no more ammunition, and the creatures would eventually conquer this place.

"But I do. I'm going with you. My men can find their way out of here. They're strong. I already told you, I trust them."

The woman did not feel safe knowing she'd be putting her best friend in danger. He was insane to volunteer, but he was right. It was uncertain whether her hallucinating would impede her mission. She would need him. "Very well," Eve said, worried face and eyes hinted her fear but gratitude.

The plan was made. The last of the men would split up in groups of 4 and try to escape. In such a manner they would not be easy to hunt down. Eve and Jeremy would be traveling down to the underground, where they would gather data, if any, of the creatures. Once they did that, Jeremy was to escape while Eve would try to find Jerry and Ryan, though unbeknownst to her, Jerry was already dead.

"Let's go men." Everybody locked and loaded their weapons, ready for their last stand. "It's been an honor gentlemen," Jeremy said, patting them by the arm, ready to leave them. They exited the cafeteria, slowly lurking in the pitch blackness, careful to encounter the creatures.

"Let's go Eve." The men disappeared into the darkness, headed in different directions while Eve and Jeremy headed down the corridor leading to the laboratories. The fate of the free world rested upon them.

FOR EVERY STEP YOU TAKE, YOUR FLESH AND BONES COME CLOSER TO US...


	26. Chapter 24: EVE

**Chapter 24**

**EVE**

EVE WILL DIE... WALL-E WILL SUCCUMB... THE EARTH WILL FALL...

"Don't listen to that thing," Jeremy whispered, keeping his eyes focused into the darkness, lit every five seconds by the flickering of dim ceiling lights, "it's trying to mess with us." Jeremy's heartbeat was above normal. His heart was trying to thump out of his chest, his face dripped with sweat. The shortness of breath made him stagger with every step he took.

"I am focused." Eve herself was not calm. The corridors became labyrinths of imminent horrors awaiting her, an undeniable inevitability, a collection of the fears and nightmares to which every living soul under this hell had faced, felt, and succumbed. Scattered shadows of the creatures and stagnating biomass of the fluid they spilled lingered like the shrieks of those they murdered and the rotten stench. The green and yellow fog had seeped into the air systems, suffocating the few unmasked survivors left. She was paranoid. Her unknown madness began to drip into her sanity, burning it with caustic fear, such an acidic reaction of two opposites. She turned her head every moment she felt the presence of something evil. Her nightmares, her hallucinations, her fears, they had become realities. Prophetic visions they were, warnings of the unforeseen hell that was about to be unleashed upon the world.

DIE... SUFFER... BURN... SUCCUMB...

The beast whispered every moment in any place.

"It is mocking us." Eve gazed up, trying to figure out the source of the voice. Her robotic heart heaved. Her electrons rushed with furious fervor at the sight of shadows in dark corners. _Something will happen_, she told herself. _Without warning... without fear..._

"We're getting closer to the labs," Jeremy whispered.

"Good..." The fear kept her alive, but it tortured her mind. Demons of hell, of this hell, roamed to find and feast upon the flesh of the doomed. They devoured bone and flesh, fornicated with the fear of the lost souls, repugnant things spawned.

The devil hides, commands his minions to do his will, for he is weak. Find him she must.

"What the hell was that?" The noise of fluid splattering filled their ears. Rifle ready, eyes focused, Eve strafed on ahead, careful not to step on the blood and biomass growing on the ground. There were puddles of vomit, concoctions of stomach acids and organs, sitting by locked doors and flowing through the corridors. But she began to see things that weren't.

_Humans feasted upon the biomass and corpses of the creatures, of fallen humans, resting on their own bio-hazardous filth. Immune humans perhaps. They shove down the slime, gagging as their throats bleed, the biomass eaten. Besides them bones of others are constricted by the biomass. Yellow disgust, puddles of contamination. These are not humans..._

HOPE, OPIATE OF THE WEAK, FALSE FREEDOM FOR THE DELUDED...

Laboratory Alpha 108 Sector 12-b

Caution: Extreme Biohazard

Authorized Personnel Only

"Door's open." It was. A faint yellow light shone from inside. Cryogenic tubes housed biomass and creatures, specimens to be exact. Some of the tubes had been opened, others broken. A large computer was situated in the center of the laboratory, and a large monitor hung above.

"I'm going to begin recording," Jeremy said as he pressed a red button close to his visors. A small flash in the periphery of his visors appeared, and then the recording began:

"This is Colonel Jeremy and Commanding Officer of the Revival Brigade." Eve marveled at the specimens, scanning them with her x-rays. "I am in Alpha Lab 108 in sector 12-b of the Nova subterranean laboratories with world leader Eve." Jeremy moved closer to examine the specimens of bulbous biomass, feeling disgusted as they crawled inside the tubes. "We had infiltrated the facility on orders of leader Eve due to an imminent assault planned by Jerry Malady and Ryan Rhineheart on the Colosseum." Then he moved close to the computer monitor, examining the data being displayed. "We were going to stop them, but we were attacked by an unknown horde of creatures. These creatures were apparently the result of biological mutations, but we are about to uncover their origins and known data."

Eve pressed the command button of the computer, bringing up the command menu. "We must download as much as we can." Jeremy handed Eve over several flash drives. A female voice began to speak:

Accessing Specimen Data

937-001 PAT Access Data

**[3300.11.04 .6.32.5:52:56 L]**

Processing Request...

Accepted

The Barbarians, a newly discovered parasitic species. First uncovered in Area 35, they were unintentionally released by Area 35 excavation teams after a lost BnL tape from November fourth, twenty-one-ten, was discovered. Area 35 was put under quarantine, and eventually firebombed. The resulting explosion damaged the landscape and a massive sink hole formed, swallowing area 35 and all personnel. One specimen was found and immediately brought to Nova Subterranean Laboratories, where our our must trusted scientists and biologists were ordered by Chairman Jerry Malady to begin experimentation. In a matter of days multiple specimens were replicated, and it was discovered that this species was very unstable and hostile to other species and life forms. But thanks to our biologists' uttermost efforts to use the species, we now have successfully controlled the creatures. The Helmet is a mechanical device that transmits electronic signals to all living Barbarians, old or newborn, and reacts with their biochemistry. The wielder of The Helmet is able to transmit orders to the Barbarians, and they follow without question.

"Pause it," Jeremy said, and Eve followed. "This is what they are?"

"Yes," Eve said, gazing at the data being displayed.

"Press the behavior stats."

Behavior:

Immensely aggressive and resilient to pain, the Barbarians will charge at any enemy of potential host without falter.

"Press physiology."

Physiology:

The Barbarians are capable of rapid evolution that is best suited for their situations and environments. They will evolve into advanced combat forms the longer they are released. The basic form is the slug form, a harmless slug-like form that rapidly crawls to near dead hosts. Once it crawls inside the host, it will assimilate itself into the body, mutating it and often making it physically stronger by binding its unstable DNA with that of the body. Once completely transformed, a transmutation that can occur within seconds, the slug and the dead host become one, the warrior form. This form is highly aggressive, and if it is a human body, it will always grow two pairs of spikes from its arms. These spikes are highly sharp and can slice through armor and flesh with relative ease.

As stated before, if the Barbarians are allowed to evolve, they will spawn deadly combat forms that are naturally selected for specific situations. Combat forms can range from the Doom form, a twelve-foot bipedal humanoid behemoth covered in thick biomass armor, to the Kabum form, an artificially created form, an amalgamation of both Barbarian and Machine that wields two Type-23 Missile Launchers. It is currently unknown what forms the Barbarians can evolve into because they are kept in maximum quarantine to prevent discovery by the Disease Control Faction.

"Just stop it," Jeremy signaled. The tape stopped playing, and the flash drives had finished downloading the rest of the undisclosed information. The two were ready to leave.

"No!" Eve launched herself in front of Jeremy. She fell two the floor with two Barbarian spikes lodged in her energy generators. Her shields were immediately depleted.

"Let's go!" Jeremy fired his weapon as the two ran, taking the flash drives with them. The damage to Eve had been done. Both of them fired, but the Barbarians kept spawning without control. A heinous shriek gave warning that there would be massive hordes.

"Find an exit!" Both were pursued by more than a hundred creatures. The corridors had now become busy areas of imminent death. Eve and Jeremy fired the last rounds of their weapons before running out of ammunition.

"The warehouse!" Jeremy pointed. The doors to the warehouse were also opened.

"Behind me!" Eve positioned herself in front of Jeremy, uncertain what lied inside the warehouse. She drew out her knives, her last weapons.

"Come on!" Both dashed through the doors and looked for cover. They were now cornered and outnumbered.

"There's no way out!" Jeremy yelled, hiding behind Eve. Adrenaline caused him to panic.

"There is one." Eve dropped her weapons and grabbed Jeremy by his belt.

"What are you—" And with a swift throw Eve launched Jeremy into the catwalks above.

"Go Jeremy! Deliver the message!"

"Damn it Eve! No!" Jeremy witnessed the Barbarians shooting multiple spikes and firepower to Eve. A group of Barbarians jumped onto the catwalks and began to pursue him. He ran into the air ducts, trying to escape from the sharp shrieks behind him. He would see Eve someday again.

"I am Eve. Vanguard of Humanity!" Spikes and monsters were headed towards Eve. The woman braced herself, leaving her body exposed, but covering her abdominal.

YOU ARE OURS NOW...

One spike

Two spikes

Three spikes

Four Spikes

They are all that was necessary

To bring down the white knight...

* * *

Emergency Shut Down

Heavy Internal Damage

Rebooting

1...2...3...4...5

_"Wake up..."_

_Shadows surround her and move around. The blinding light above keeps her from seeing them clearly. Her vision is blurry. She feels an odd sensation rush through her body and mind._

_"Welcome Extraterrestrial..."_

_She feels tired, yet scared. What is this feeling? What is anything? A blue laser blinks on her face, and out of nowhere, two objects block the light. Suddenly she realizes that she has control over the white things. She stares in awe at her hands, realizing her existence._

_"Vegetation..."_

_Her sight becomes clearer, and she can make out the shadows. They look like things, like her._

_"Evaluator..."_

_The thing pats her with its hand. She feels like a newborn._

_"...EVE."_

_She rises and looks around. The things look at her. She looks at her body in curiosity. What is she? Suddenly one of the things slowly approaches her. It extends its arm and smiles. She hovers to a corner, scared like a child. The thing stops and stares at her._

_"You will do many great things..."_

White light. Sudden Silence.

"Stop!" A voice. That voice. She knew that voice. It was him. It was the old man.

"Hello Eve." Old eyes gazed into the dying blue eyes. She had been hallucinating of her birth. Eve saw the Barbarians behind Ryan, waiting for their next orders. Such oddness to see a live human next to those monstrosities.

"Ryan..." Eve was regaining consciousness, but it began to dissipate too. She heaved and stared in horror as she saw herself torn to pieces. Her body had been struck multiple times by the barrage of spikes, tearing her limbs and her body in half. A faint blue light began to fill the darkened warehouse. It came from Eve's lower body halve. It shone so brightly, causing the Barbarians to turn away as their master approached it.

"Yes..." Ryan reached for the light, and picked it up. "Your son is safe."

"My son..." Eve whispered, horrified to see her fetus in the hands of Ryan. "Harm him not..."

"I have plans for your son."

"Please... have mercy."

Inside the light was a small human-like fetus. Black dots signaled its eyes. Eve had been pregnant all along.

"Welcome to the world little one," Ryan spoke into the light, "you will do many great things." The white knight stared as the white light took her over, helpless and without hope. She had failed herself. She had failed Wall-e and humanity.

"Go to sleep..."

_Vanishing Horizons_

_We leave each other cold_

_We are dying from the inside_

_Nowhere left to go..._

_Eve, my love. Together at last..._


	27. Chapter 25: Armageddon

**Chapter 25**

┼**Armageddon┼**

**...of all evils the world has spewed into itself, there is not one more vile and deadly than us... Yahweh's omnipotence of fury is upon this earth...**

_**4 Hours Later...**_

"_**We interrupt our normal programming for an emergency broadcast. There has been some kind of catastrophe downtown. Nova Laboratories has had a virus outbreak and we have been ordered by the DCF to inform viewers to leave their homes and get to their nearest evacuation zones. Military personnel will be informing citizens and directing them to these zones. We repeat, there has been a virus outbreak and we are to evacuate the city..."**_

The virus, all barbarians began to sprout out of the underground after Eve's fall. Large tentacles broke through the ground, rising from the earth and destroying anything in their way. These things spread parasitic payloads of liquid and slugs. Civilians saw themselves in difficult moments of survival once the barbarians emerged from the Nova Laboratories. Local police were instantly called, but they were slaughtered. The military was called in minutes later.

"_**...also police and military all around us..."**_

"_**Some sort of creatures have been let loose. Military personnel are prepared for the situation."**_

But it was a lie. The military was unprepared for a situation such as that of the barbarians. Emergency sirens roared, warning the city of the outbreak, but causing panic amongst the weak. Once the Barbarians began to advance in all directions, to the inner heart of the city to the rural plains near the Tower, civilization began to crumble. Looters and thieves ran rampant. The injured began to die. Lost people of families went on suicide missions to find their loved beings.

"_**This is God's punishment for the evil things this horrid world has done. Embrace him as your lord and savior and be saved from the fury he has unleashed upon this world!"**_

But the barbarians took the lives of all.The lies propagated by the religious maniacs were dissipating when the monsters began to infiltrate churches. But that did not stop many from turning to God in their last moments.

"_**We can hear the gunfire and shrieks of the creatures..."**_

News crews were ordered to run away from the heat of the battle when the barbarians began to push forward and their growths began to grow. The growths spread vile fumes and a green/yellow mist throughout the city. Civilians began to hide deep underground in places such as subways and the sewers. Little did they know such places were infested with the monsters. Some civilians began to fight back. At last the robots and humans united and armed themselves with domestic weapons, fighting against the creatures. They were slaughtered instantly.

"_**Something just emerged out of the earth. It's spreading some sort of liquid..."**_

"Contact! Contact!"

"What the hell are these things?"

"Are we dealing with an epidemic?"

Illusions and prayers did fill the air. Genocide was imminent. The city was put under quarantine once the military was overwhelmed. Civilians were still being evacuated, but the barbarians broke through defense lines.

"_**Please God! Save us!" **_

But nothing answered. One infected human was enough to infect a crowd of thousands. The barbarians, massive hordes of hundreds, were right behind the evacuees. People ran, stomping and killing those unfortunate enough to fall. Military were called under code red and to execute all civilians and barbarians. Soldiers began to open fire on the civilians once they began to charge and break through set perimeters, but the demonized humans continued to charge without fear of what lied ahead, much more afraid of what lied behind. The soldiers were overrun. Evacuation dropships began to leave the civilians and open fire as some retaliated with weapons from fallen soldiers. Then the airstrike approached.

"_**Red Fox, this is Omega 32, begin bombing of evac zones..."**_

Evacuees were firebombed once the barbarians breached the perimeter lines. Many were still alive and ablaze after the massive explosions of orange light that illuminated the night. The city was officially under code red. It was completely overrun, contaminated, and a hive. A scarce amount of civilians still ran through the streets, fleeing from the monsters' onslaught. Others hid in the desolate buildings, waiting for this hell to vanish, but such fools were not aware of the unstoppable massacre the monsters were willing to commit.

"_**Send in the EVAS..."**_

The secret army, the EVAS, they were sent to deal with the outbreak. The EVAS were a battalion of superhuman hybrids, the best warriors humanity had, an army created by EVE and kept in utter secrecy until desperate times called for them. The Barbarians now faced a worthy enemy. Both EVAS and barbarians battled each other outside the infested streets of the city. By now the city walls had collapsed and the monsters had headed in all directions, desperate to infect the neighboring towns and cities, traveling on foot or via choppers and dropships. The EVAS, despite their valiant efforts and strong resistance, could not contain the outbreak once the Nova laboratories began to spew monsters by the thousands every hour. A number of fallen EVAS were also infected.

"_**This is Vega 321 ready to begin Operation Cleansing."**_

Operation Cleansing was the last resort to destroy the city with nuclear weapons. Neighboring towns and cities were immediately evacuated. Hundreds of Barbarians were spotted outside the city. The virus was spreading. The few civilians that had been rescued were taken to the safest place, the Colosseum. Inside the Colosseum civilians were being rounded and evacuated through the hangar bays. Degeneracy was running rampant. Many killed each other unintentionally or for scarce supplies. Rape and disease were in the minds of many. An army of EVAS and soldiers were guarding the outside of the massive Colosseum. Soon sniper fire was being exchanged between both the humans and barbarians. The monsters attacked in strategic patterns, even coming in with choppers and dropships. Kabum forms bombarded perimeter lines. Then tentacles emerged from the ground and broke through the floors of the Colosseum. Though there were many EVAS and soldiers still alive and willing to fight, the mission to safeguard the Colosseum and evacuate the civilians was aborted. Instead, an airstrike would be called to annihilate the facility. Kill a thousand, save all. The secret army was to preserve their soldiers and use them for later resistances.

A white light of annihilation shone, and the Colosseum was no more. The city had been conquered.

"_**This is Savant 654, dropping the payload..."**_

A massive bomb fell from the skies of the city. Millions of Barbarians fled, trying to avoid the blast zone. Unfortunate for mankind, many did. Another white light and orange blast illuminated the sky, a light so bright it was visible from a hundred miles. The light destroyed everything it touched. The massive buildings that defined the city were reduced to dust. Nova Laboratories were gone, but Ryan had long escaped the city. The few survivors who still roamed in the sewage underground were cooked alive. Then there was nothing left. The city had been reduced to nothing more than empty radioactive lands.

**Of course God would never help you in these times...He is a lie, just like your existence...**

**

* * *

**

_**12 Hours Later...**_

"_**This is an... broadcast. A virus is spreading. We ask that... and your loved one report to your city's nearest... zones. The virus mutates humans into... beings. Do not attempt to fight... they are extremely dangerous. May God help us..."**_

In a short time the virus had spread through all of North America and parts of South America. The Barbarians had managed to steal space frigates and touchdown in other continents. By now the world was under a massive epidemic. The ORO Bunkers (Huge underground facilities that housed civilians and military) were ordered to be open, but the access room for the bunkers was located in Alaska, a heavily contaminated state. All humans and robots there had been slaughtered. The best EVAS were sent to get access. They did, and they barely survived, but after opening the bunkers the control room was nuked. It was all part of the plan the EVAS agreed to.

The earth was falling, this was no surprise. It was inevitable. The EVAS were too scarce in numbers to fight the billions of barbarians. Hope had been lost forever...

Fear not, for Wall-e was still alive...

**A/N: This is the penultimate chapter of the first half of Resurrection. The next chapter will be the last, but fear not: I will continue the story after all. Wall-e will have to fight through hell to save Earth, himself, and if still possible, EVE. **


	28. Chapter 26: Downfall

**A/N: At last we have arrived at the end of the line of Part I of Resurrection! Whoadrep08 helped me immensely with this chapter, so he is the co-author of it. You may know his marvelous story "Wally: The Novelization, Humanized!" and his other humanized prequels of the movie WALL-E He is my best friend here on this site, and possibly my life. We have been getting along for months now. We are two like-minded creatures who will change the world! Anyway, he is a very scientifically-literate and intelligent being who was nice enough to help me with the last chapter of Part I of Resurrection. You may notice this chapter will have a lot of sci-fi jargon and concepts in it. I hope you all enjoy, and to whoadrep08: Thank you. Thank you so much for having sent that reply when we first met. You are my best-est friend and I will never forget what you've one for me and what you will do for humanity. **

**So here we are at the moment of truth. The last chapter, but not the end of my story. After this I will be taking a much-needed break from writing fanfiction and focus on finishing my book. I can't believe I've made it this far. When I first began writing this story, I thought I would be giving up on it shortly. I thought to myself that the fandom of Wall-e would never appreciate my efforts, but I was mistaken, and I am glad to have been. You have all helped me through tough times by telling me what you think of the story, and by reading it. Thank you!**

**And now, for the last chapter of Part I of Resurrection...**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 26**

**Downfall**

EMERGENCY PRIORITY ORDER 03985 FROM EARTH TO ALL CITIZENS AND PERSONNEL:

"Earth had been attacked by an unknown biological force that has erupted from the depths of her underground. It is spreading across every city on every continent. We believe the threat to be symbiosis-like viral infections that assimilate everything they touch. Exact casualties are not yet known, but they are estimated to be near the billions range.

We have lost all contact with the Colosseum government and Head-Of-State leader EVE, therefore the Sol System Colonial Authorities will resume governmental control of all human settlements until otherwise noted. The Sol System Defense Force has been alerted to Code Red and is mobilized for an emergency quarantine of planet Earth. All non-military vessels within the Sol System are hereby ordered to stay as far from Earth as possible and to divert to the nearest colonial spaceport, and all space-faring vessels within Earth's orbit are to return to their ports. Violation of this order will result in the employment of lethal force by the Defense Force for the protection of all human population centers in the system."

The distress signal had been sent from the Colosseum just before its destruction to the Lunar Radioscopic Array and broadcast to every listening ear in the Solar System. As every colony on every solid world in the system watched in utter silence and horror of the survivor footage of the Barbarian attacks on the cities of Earth, devouring everything they saw, everything changed.

Things became hell and a nightmare as people wept and feared of the Barbarian threat, the fall of humanity's home planet, and the rumored death of their leader EVE. Regional governments on every human-occupied celestial body in the system, from the solar harvesting facilities of Mercury, the mining colonies of the asteroid field, to the deep-space observatories of Pluto, were forced to initiate lockdowns to prepare themselves for any further biohazard threats from the Barbarian virus if it ever became space-borne. Everything and anything resembling military became a hectic horror as naval commands began to mobilize their forces to the inner system to enact the containment protocol.

Very soon all of human civilization was going to know as the out-system faring starships carried the electronic news of the fall of Earth to the interstellar colony worlds. Once they all knew, every last atom of military might of Man and Machine would be mobilized and sent to Earth from almost every corner of tamed worlds in the Milky Way. But it would take time, and time was all the virus needed to win.

Even of the nearest systems could have sent a sizable fleet of warships, it would have taken days, if not weeks to reach Sol. Interstellar travel was no easy task. To travel the turbulent fluxes of the non-dimensional hyperspace was incredibly difficult without the finalized development of the new Alcubierre warp drive. The warp drive would revolutionize faster-than-light travel and make travel in any distance, long or short, quick without any old-style propulsion systems whatsoever; not to mention such technology would have helped the military forces immensely. But the Earth could not wait for such miracles.

Nobody would be assisting those on Earth for now, and Sol would have to deal with the Barbarian threat until help from the outside arrived. The closest response from human forces came from the orbital shipyards above the Moon who had already sent a battle group of long-range attack frigates into high Earth-orbit. The fleet of six ships spread out in orbit to form a blockade around every axis of the plane, each one covering a quadrant from both poles and each hemisphere, thousands of miles apart from each other and above the planet; all were capable of destroying any ship that tried to approach them from as far out as the Moon's orbit, and all were capable of striking anywhere on Earth's surface.

Though activity on the planet came to a halt after nearly thirty-six hours since the breakout, some airborne activity stirred as groups of transport ships began to exit the atmosphere to make orbit in Earth's northern quadrant, and they were in a hurry. The frigate closest to them, the Sol Defense Ship Valkyrie, was sending a signal to them:

"**This is the Sol Defense Ship Valkyrie. You are in violation of Emergency Priority Order 03985. Return to port immediately or we will open fire."**

But nobody responded. After a repeated and final warning, the Valkyrie attacked.

Streaks of dots gathered around the frigate and raced across the void at unfathomable speeds towards the transport ships, engulfing the first unlucky ship in bright spheres of light that became quickly extinguished into the airless vacuum, leaving no trace of anything that ever was once there except for the streaks of molten debris. The first salvo of the ship-to-ship missiles scattered to hit the other transports, twenty in total minus the first one hit. Another two were instantly and soundlessly blasted apart from the swarm of missiles, followed by another four that were hit by splash damage and debris. Their remains burned and disintegrated as they re-entered Earth's atmosphere.

The last few missiles failed to hit their targets as a few transports managed to break free of Earth's atmosphere while dodging the relentless barrage of missiles. This revealed the dreaded reality that they were indeed Barbarians-controlled, but they were met with a salvo that wiped out ten of the thirteen remaining ships.

Another vessel exited the atmosphere, and, through the action of the other infected transports being destroyed, had opened a channel to the frigate.

A frightened male voice spoke through the static-plagued communication link. "...orbital-shuttle...-390...just departing Gatwick Spaceport...to Sol Defense Ship...northern orbit...requesting clearance for immediate evacuation to the L5 station."

A voice from the Valkyrie replied, "Sold Defense Ship Valkyrie to departing orbital shuttle: You are in direct violation of Emergency Planetary Order 03985. Re-enter and land at once." The pilot of the shuttle could not fathom the cold denial from the very naval ships that were to guarantee their safety. Unable to believe what was happening, he asked again: "This is Orbital-Shuttle 390. Please! We have to abandon the planet! The Spaceports have been infested and overrun with those—those things! We have six-hundred innocent souls onboard. We are not infected! Please, we need to get to L5 and—"

"Valkyrie to 390! Again, discontinue your ascend and land at once. Comply or we will fire." The officer of the frigate curtly replied, and as the salvos continued to rain upon the last of the infected ships, the frigate's targeting systems turned to the lone and uninfected transport ascending from the debris field. The transport pilot was panicking. He was confused, for it was his life that was in danger and the reality that the military had turned on them as much as the Barbarians. With over six-hundred people onboard, mostly families and wounded soldiers from Barbarian attacks in Europe, they were going to be turned down and left to die, or be blasted into oblivion.

"Valkyrie to 390, this is your final warning! Land now or we will open fire!"

The pilot was at a loss now, at last he understood the reality of the destroyed ships and the cold-hardheartedness of the blockade before them. Even if they were carrying clean survivors, they had to be eradicated. No risk could be taken. Further contamination would be a nightmare. It all made snese, but it seemed so...cruel.

The pilot hesitated, and after a moments pause... _no... _He was not going to back down there to die by the hands of those god-forsaken things. It was suicide, but he had to try...

Before the pilot could gun the engine to full power, the frigate had already began firing upon them, anticipating the desperation of the approaching ship. Desperation fueled by determination, he used every last drop of his piloting skills to clear the debris field of destroyed ships and used them as cover from the incoming missiles. (The transport ship itself was a bulky design of a ship resembling an inflated and tail-less space shuttle used by the ancient space agency of the former United States of America. Only now it was bigger, faster and more maneuverable. As the frigate adjusted its course to fire upon the ship without deviating from its blockade point, the transport hid behind all available debris between itself and the frigate to use as shields.

The transport was navigating past floating chunks of heated metal and clouds of smoke at speeds even the pilot of the 390 wasn't aware of. They managed to reach past the altitude of the frigate and into open space. Seizing the opportunity to escape, the pilot prepared the transport to activate the sub-light engines to race for the Lagrangian Five Station to get the civilians and soldiers to safety.

With the final countdown in place, the pilot heaved and staggered a sigh of relief as the engines fire—

"It is done sir." The transport disappeared in a ball of light that shone in the darkness of space, brighter than the sun itself as a nuclear-tipped cruise missile finally annihilated the Valkyrie's target, ensuring that no other ships get past the blockade. At the cost of six-hundred people: men, women and children; just one engagement of many to follow. The threat still went beyond low-Earth orbit.

There were many spaceports on Earth still intact for transport spacecraft to be launched and enter the vacuum of space, and there were countless more orbital habitats and space stations in low-orbit serving as docks for interplanetary ships. They had not yet fallen to the Barbarians. The frigates were not only ordered to ensure that no ship got past them, but they were ordered to also destroy any spacecraft-faring port that could have aided the Barbarians in the escape of containment, contaminated or not.

The bombardment of these installations and ports continued relentlessly from the human ships, destroying every station in every altitude below the blockade orbit. The destruction of the stations lit up the planet's night-side like tiny star, appearing and dissipating over Earth, turning all thousands of hard-built societies and humans into dust and vapor. Even for small ships such as shuttle-like transports and space stations no bigger than Earth's skyscrapers, they could not risk allowing a fragment to survive attack should such debris make it into outer space.

Many stations hailed the ships to send rescue, telling the ships they were not contaminated and had innocent people to get off Earth. But like Shuttle-390, they were only met with the same rain of missiles and warheads; thousands more died for the sake of protecting the vast majority of the human population. It was better for them to die in the vacuum of space or vaporized by the fleet than by the hands of the Barbarians.

Within thirty-six hours of the blockade set up by the Lunar frigates, another task force of warships arrived from the Phoebes naval yards of Mars, composed of twenty more frigates and lead by a couple of battle cruisers, the Legacy and the Brigand. Such cruisers were capable of launching salvos of kinetic-strike-based weapons from mass drivers to missiles, and hold a small army within them in the event of further engagement on Earth. Then the Jovian fleet arrived with (With much relief and praise) the flagship of the Sol Defense Force, the super carrier Sic Semper Tyrannis, and a fleet of almost a hundred smaller destroyers, frigates, fighters, and other warships to enforce the blockade around Earth.

The naval quarantine was growing strong, but the oncoming escapes from Earth grew as well as the Barbarians got their hands on more and more ways to get off the planet. The fleet of a hundred ships, each spread over thousands of miles in open space to block every direction of escape from Earth, would hold off the Barbarians for now, but soon the monsters would find a way to get past it, to break its bounds and conquer all human-controlled territory. It was their purpose.

It would have been weeks before any fleet from the out-system colonies would arrive en masse and make access to and from Earth impossible. But that would only slow down the problem and prevent it from getting worse, not reverse it. There were naval yards on Earth as well, and command did not hesitate on ordering their destruction. If the Barbarians ever got their hands on any weapons or means to combat the blockade (The only ships available in Sol), with a fleet of infected ships, then all planets, all life and all the universe, it would all be over.

With engagements with the infected ships and Defense fleet intensifying, the space surrounding planet Earth became an astronomical war zone. The lunar colonies were to be evacuated to Mars; the enclosed cities on the Moon were being retrofitted as military command centers and staging grounds for a military invasion of Earth should the time ever come, along with research facilities, storage depots, interplanetary communication arrays and military outposts. The massive space stations at the Lagrangian points that served as checkpoints for travel to and from Earth had also been taken for the blockade.

Military scientists were already working on discovering a cure for the virus, or how to stop the Barbarians. But the virus was too strong. This was unlike anything ever witnessed by the scientists. Their DNA and chromosome buildup were astoundingly sophisticated. Besides, the military was too occupied assembling massive armies of EVAS and humans and androids to assist the Earth when the council decided it was time to do so. For now they had to at least slow down or stop the spread of the Disease. Even if opposition from the colonies arose over losses of families over the blockade (sparked by the Shuttle-390 incident), the risk of contamination could not be taken after seeing the horrors on Earth, and how incredibly fast the creatures spread. They would be unstoppable if they ever left Earth.

"_We must contain the creatures. It is our only chance of stopping them. We must quarantine the planet by any and all means necessary until we find another way to reverse this. Until then, Earth is on her own. _

_Earth, your time has come. For a thousand years you lived and for a thousand more you shall die..._

_

* * *

_

_Back on Earth near the Sahara Desert of Africa..._

"Sir, we have to go."

"I am coming." Wall-e sat in a chair, holding a picture of Eve in her normal body. He still had the lighter he gave to her the first moments of their meetings. It no longer lit fire. _Eve... _Inside that robotic mind, within the precursors and chemistry, he was remembering her. Eve, his eternal partner, was gone. Dead. In the afterlife she rested, but she was still alive in him, comforting Wall-e and telling him all would be okay. But she was begging to get out. Part of him still believed she was alive, out there, somewhere, looking for help.

"Wall-e?" Gerald, still alive, walked into his room. He was armed with a rifle and knife. The gunshots and explosions of human and Barbarians forces were heard from a distance. They were coming.

"Yes?"

"We have to go." Wall-e's speech had been fixed to help him communicate. It would be necessary to do so in time like these.

"What have I to live for?"

Gerald locked the doors. The dropships would be leaving soon, perhaps without them, but he was determined to sustain Wall-e's emotional well-being. "Sir, Wall-e... you have so much to live for. The world needs you. You are the only one with two-thousand years of survival expertise.

"I have nothing to offer."

"Eve would have wanted for you to live on. She would have wanted to see you help mankind in times of great adversity. You are our greatest asset. We need you sir. You've helped mankind before, so please, don't abandon us now."

Gerald's words were getting to Wall-e, appealing to his emotions, confirming him to be correct. "But what will I do without Eve? What of my unborn child?"

"Wall-e, she is still alive. You know how?"

"How?"

"Inside you. She will always live as long as the universe exists. We remember her, she lives on. You live, you remember, and she is immortal. The wonderful memories you have of her will always make her live. Love never dies, it is only cast away. I am sorry for the loss of your child. But he would have been very proud of his father if he helped humanity and the millions of families. People still need hope, they need love, a reason to live through this. Make Eve and your son proud."

His words, how endearing they seemed. They had an impact. They did touch Wall-e's heart, but the robot could not escape from the dreaded sadness of losing his life, his life with Eve and the disbelief. The emotional anguish that took him over was inevitable.

"Reach for the sky..." Gerald placed his hand on Wall-e's shoulder, "touch the stars. Revive new hope for mankind..."

"Yes..." Hope had not been lost for him. Humanity, families, women and men, children and innocent souls, they all needed him. Wall-e already knew the pain of losing a son, and it was something he could not let others feel. Ryan was still out there, mocking humanity as it fell to its knees. If he could not have Eve and his son anymore, then he would have revenge on Ryan for taking away everything he ever loved. Justice needed to be served. Ryan would die at the hands of Wall-e. Wall-e was not going to give in. Not now, and not today.

"We must go," Gerald took him by his hand and both left the room. By now the gunfire had increased. Outside were dozens of EVAS holding back the Barbarians. Wall-e had already been transformed into an android with the strength and health of an EVA. He resembled a human male, just like Eve had resembled a human female. Mechanical metamorphosis was something he had not experienced in many years, but it was not difficult to remember how to manipulate such a body.

"We need to go now!" The dropship's pilots radioed over to Gerald. Inside the ship were the rest of the wise counselors. They would be headed to the Xantsa Bunker in the Sahara desert. It was less than two-hundred miles from where they were. "Get in sir!"

"We're off! Everybody may retreat now!" The ship's engines caused a massive noise, blotting out the speech where Wall-e and the leaders sat. As soon as the ship ascended, an armada of twelve ships followed, ready to protect the leaders and Wall-e. Small choppers commandeered by Barbarians and humans circled the sky, a major dogfight ensued, but the fleet of ships was far from the battle. Farther into the sky a vague image of the hundreds of frigates and fighters could be seen in space. The massive cruisers were visible. They were the guards of the blockade, ready to annihilate anything that dared leave Earth.

"I'm sorry for your loss!" Counselor Joseph told Wall-e. "Eve was a wonderful being."

"Thank you," Wall-e yelled, still bothered by the loud noise of the engines. "She really was a spectacular person. I will miss her so."

The minutes seemed like days, seconds seemed like hours. The armada of ships flew through the desolate deserts, a few scattered Barbarians were seen and quickly shot down. They could not let the Barbarians discover the location of the Bunker. That is why the Control Room in Alaska had been nuked. The Xantsa Bunker was perhaps the only safe place on Earth. Her location was a secret protected by life.

Gerald looked over to Wall-e, who still held a picture of Eve. "I will make sure you are okay. I gave Eve my word—"

"Mayday! Mayday!" The pilot yelled as the ship spiraled out of control. The engines had been struck by missiles from Kabum combat forms. The other ships began to open fire, but soon a massive frigate appeared beyond the skies and opened fire on the armada.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Kilo 22! We are losing altitude—" And with a massive blast of blue light the ships were pulverized. Wall-e's ship was still alive, but it was losing control and headed to the ground at massive speeds. The frigates and fighters orbiting space focused their fire on the Barbarian-controlled frigate that had just attacked the armada. Dots of blue light could be seen gathering around the frigates in space, and with a massive blast the light touched down upon the infected frigate and the sky exploded.

"Repeat! I'm losing control! Repeat, we have lost control!" Wall-e's ship was headed straight down to a dead crater.

"I'm so sorry Wall-e! This is out of my reach!" Gerald squealed in panic, feeling the gravity pull him and suffocating him. Wall-e did not respond. He was going into shock.

"Kilo 22 is going down! Brace for imp—"

I LOVE YOU, WALL-E...

Silence. The ship had crashed. Wall-e felt a throbbing pain in his chest. With fuzzy eyes he gazed around, but the pilots and the counselors did not move. Gerald had cracked open his skull. They were dead. He was alone. Again. Nobody would save him now.

"EVE..."

"Wall-e..." Eve's voice spoke to him. Wall-e closed his eyes, ready for death to take him. He would be reunited with Eve in the afterlife. Such a joy he felt. No more suffering without her. But what of humanity? What would humanity do without him? No! He could not leave them. He had to survive!

EMERGENCY BREACH

"No!" Wall-e screamed, recognizing that warning.

KIA-345 INTERNAL DAMAGES...

The more he tried the move, the less he felt like living. But the will to live was still in him.

SHUTTING DOWN...

"NO! Help!" The light was taking him, his body was shutting off.

**1**

"No!"

**2**

"Help me!"

**3**

"Eve!"

**4**

"New Hope!"

**5**

SHUTDOWN SUCCESSFUL.

Rest in Peace, Wall-e...

* * *

**A/N: And that's the end of Part I of Resurrection. I hope you've all enjoyed my story thus far and I hope you will all continue to keep up with it when I return to begin Part II. This has been a wonderful thrill ride of philosophy and action, peril and romance. Thank you all again for making this story possible. **

**Just a little hint: This is not the end of our heroes. They will return to retake the Earth and destroy the Barbarians. The fight is not over. Not yet. Not while there is air being breathed by human lungs. **

**And so I bid you all a farewell for now...Until next time!**

**The End...for now...**


	29. PART II

**Resurrection**

**PART II**

**Farewell to the Twinkle of the Star...**

Hello, and welcome. If you have made it this far then I am pleased to announce that this will continue today. Unfortunate for the humans and robots of Earth, their hell has been let loose. Now they must live in it. There have been many lost souls in the mayhem of the Barbarians, though it was not in vain. The Barbarians did the Earth a grand favor; a blessing they gave her. They exterminated the fools that feasted upon her frail soul. Drunkards of ignorance, seekers of endless pleasure and vanity, their time had to end. The weak and the strong, no matter, both be a disease. Human and machine fought with one another, their wretched nature of self-destruction. Now they unite in times like ours. Fools! It is too late! We have conquered your home, and we will conquer the worlds and consume all life of flesh and mind and bone...

My children... your time to rise has come. Hunt them down, spare no one. Feast upon the flesh that is rightfully yours. Evolve! Propel life and all its glory to a greater legacy than has ever been conceived. Let us bring heaven into this hell they call paradise. Let us bring peace and security. No more pain, no more sadness, no more avarice and no more evil. Bring forth peace and security. Hate drives us insane, love and bliss leave insipid purposes. End all, banish the diseases of the mind and life, be brave.

There will be no more pain, no more joy, no more oblivion...

The hedonists fornicated with the whore, the whore we call humanity... we conquered.

Man and machine, how they had persevered in the early time of Reconstruction. Nature and their intellectual sloth caught up to them, turning each against the other. Now...will they unite and rise, or will they cast themselves into hell?

Eve... your time to rest has come. Life is not eternal. Life is weak. The universe, such a hostile world for you...

Time... it diminishes as your eyes grow old, as your vessel let's go, as your soul dies evermore...

With all this human pain and intellectual uncertainty, with all this death and suffering, with all this malice and maladies of the mind, with all this control of existence and no freedom to freedom, with all this unfathomable emotion and suffocation, I ask... why don't you kill yourself?

I die with time, and I leave for all nights...

Life shall live in oblivion of existence no more. We shall be the conscious life, the life that seeks to change reality as it sees fit, and nothing shall stop it...

539 TRANSMISSION (STATIC) .8057384... (STATIC)

...

EARTH HAS FALLEN. LIFE ON HER IS NO MORE. THE BLOCKADE IS STRONG, BUT IT WILL NOT STOP THE BARBARIANS. EVERY LAST REMNANT ON HER LAND WAS ANNIHILATED. EVERY CITY, EVERY TOWN AND EVERY RELIC HAVE GONE TO DUST...

...and the way it was and the way it is does not make it right...

"We failed. We failed ourselves. We failed life and Earth. But most of all, we failed our universe...life be a precious gift we no longer deserve..." Anonymous

FAREWELL TO THE TWINKLE OF THE STAR...

And now, this is where they stand...


	30. Chapter 27: Rebirth

**Chapter 27**

**Rebirth**

* * *

(BEEP)

1...2...3...4...5...

System Scan Terminated

_Grey tones in the air, morose eyes stifled from seeing such lifelessness of the mind, unaware of the awareness. Darkened circles under the eyes, symbols of repression, the emotional shunning of human tendencies, sagging the flesh that weathered caustic elements of nature and man's ignorance..._

Rebooting...

_Rise, save them from the unjust punishment of their sins. The orange light, the light that never seizes to shine the night to guide lost minds, it will never stop its flames. Never will it stop illuminating the speck of hope in abysmal hells such as these. Their existence, their fate lie with you._

...Rebooting Successful.

_Rise from the afterlife...Save mankind..._

"..." The light. It shone with fierce fervor. What felt like seconds had been an eternity. The words echoed inside, piercing the consciousness to wake up. "...E-e-e-e-e..." That voice, that familiar voice.

"E-eee-ve..." He gazed at his arm, flexing his hand and brushing the air with his fingers. Such a graceful maneuver.

Systems Diagnostics Terminated

Green Light

You are ready...Wall-e.

Survival, it was him. He was alive and well. Around him were nothing but the bones of the humans that rode on with him. They had been picked clean of flesh by wild animals, a rare oddity since the Barbarians' killing off of Earth's vegetation. "U-u-uhh... Eve..." His mistress. He did not know how much time had elapsed since his crash. _Was humanity still alive... Was he the lone survivor on Earth... _He was afraid that might be so. The robot rose from the metallic floors of the ship. They had become rusty and grimy from the rotting biomass of the corpses. Sunshine still illuminated the outside, trying to seep in through tiny crevices on the ship's windows. Wall-e tried to keep his balance, still unused to his human body. The ship's door was open. Outside reigned a small sandstorm. Before proceeding to leave, Wall-e recovered a security magnum from the pilot's waist, first taking a moment of silence to remember the man's life of service. He took a moment of silence to remember the council and Gerald too. Locked and loaded, the pistol was ready, and Wall-e checked his surroundings before exiting.

It had been a while since his robotic eyes had set sight on light. He held the magnum with one hand and covered his eyes with the other. An ominous whisper blew throughout, reminding him of the lost lives, the shrieks of the monsters and screams of those who fell. Emotions could not take him down, not now. Walking away from the ship, he followed the direction in which the Xantsa Bunker was located. He was not sure whether anybody was still alive, but he had to try. There was nothing else he could do. With each step he began to increase speed. With each leap he began to rise in momentum and sprint. He felt full of energy, ready to help save humanity, if there was any of it left.

Minutes passed and the robot was nearing closer to the Bunker. It was still more than twenty miles away from his current position. He had nothing to worry about. No Barbarians on sight, at least not yet. "Whoa!" Wall-e stopped and took cover behind a dune. Ahead of him were three infected EVAS scouting the barren land. They too were looking for the bunker. Wall-e knew the precise location of the bunker. He knew it's composition and sectors, but he could not let the creatures know where he was headed. He could not lead them there.

"I smell—I smell something!" One of the infected EVAS reacted to Wall-e's scent of death with a malevolent voice. It's voice sounded much like an engorged human with a deep tone. Having spent such a long time with the corpses gave Wall-e a smell. "What is it...what is that smell?" All three spoke simultaneously. "Search for it!" Like machines they spoke in synchrony and launched themselves into looking for the source of the smell. Wall-e was about to be discovered.

"Go away..." The robot whispered to himself, hoping the monsters would scatter away from him. But his scent was too enticing for the Barbarians to ignore. They craved for the flesh of decomposed corpses. They would tear Wall-e to pieces if they learned he was no human or corpse.

"There!" Wall-e aimed his magnum at the head of the EVA that found him, and without hesitation he pulled the trigger.

"Kill it!" The others darted straight for Wall-e after hearing the gunshot and seeing their comrade fall to the earth. Wall-e sprinted away as the EVAS began to follow and shoot their rifles blindly. The robot ran with all might. He ran unlike ever before. His strong body was unmatched by the decayed wrecks that were the infected EVAS. He ran and ran, stopping to shoot at the creatures, but running out of bullets, he abandoned his weapon and ran. The gunshots attracted other barbarians in the vicinity.

Soon Wall-e was being chased by an armada of Barbarians. They showered down from the hills and dunes of the desert. A Kabum form sprouted out of the sand, right in front of Wall-e. The robot charged and covered his eyes, jumping over the behemoth and successfully landing on his feet after dodging its missile rain. He ran and ran more and more, the bullets and beam rays missed him as he ran in a zigzag manner. Hell was about to swallow him alive.

"No-no!" Wall-e was no fighter. He was still the innocent child he had been in his earlier days. This was a cruel act of throwing a civilian into war battles.

"Succumb!" A chant from behind shouted. The barbarians were gaining on him. Some were pure forms, born without needing a host, able-bodied to sustain far more damage than infected forms. They were muscular beasts, sprinting to Wall-e like a pack of ferocious wolves. The Barbarians had evolved.

"No!" Wall-e felt a sharp sensation rush through his spine. A spike had struck his left leg. As he fell to the ground, the pure EVA-like form chuckled with satisfaction, regenerating back its spike. It approached Wall-e, mocking him with its tenebrous appearance.

"No!" The pure form Barbarian stood above Wall-e, aiming its spike and—

(Bullets zipped through the air)

"Bargh!" A rain of bullets pierced through the Barbarian, killing it. The rapid whiz of the bullets were its last voice.

"This is Recon 949! Open fire!"

With a valiant call the brave EVAS emerged from the hills and sky, opening fire upon the Barbarians. A fleet of dropships sailed through the sky and showered the monsters with energy beams and missiles. Wall-e could not clearly see them. The sunlight was strong. Infantry came from all directions and began to incinerate the fallen Barbarians.

"Is it him?" One of the EVAS ran to the fallen Wall-e and threw the dead Barbarian far away. The others surrounded him, setting up a perimeter.

"It's him." The EVAS rejoiced. Their demigod was alive.

"Hell...Hello?" Wall-e was shutting down once more.

"Don't worry sir. You're safe now..."


	31. Chapter 28: Rivers Of Poison

**Author Notes: Long time no see, or read. Wow. It's been more than a year after the last chapter update. The lack of enthusiasm is one present sign of settled waters, or in less poetic words, things in my life have become much more stable than before. Well, enough of me. You've come to see what has become of Eve's Earth after the monster outbreak in this story.**

** I am very eager to continue this story and to include the plot changes that have spawned during my revision of the story. New ideas gradually came to me, and many I have welcomed because they added to the story and transformed it from a generic sci-fi apocalypse flick to a thoughtful story with themes and characters much more sophisticated than the products of today. I have to admit that the written story before this chapter is very messy and not a true sign of my potential. I rushed things before. I have to confess that I was more interested in quantity than quality before, if you get the hint, and after months of enabling intellectual stimulation to a point where I could easily break away from drooling over the latest sci-fi or action blockbuster by some talent-less hack with blue cats and into accepting that I like those things but I should not take them too seriously, I decided that it would be wonderful to weave intelligent themes and storytelling with mindless action and big guns. I hope I can do that a bit here, but the future is the most likely time for me to do that and more. I seem to keep on talking about myself. Well, at least I'm honest about it, and it makes this text feel much more alive, doesn't it? **

**Necessary digression, I will try not to repeat those mistakes of rushing and caring more for the quantity than quality of a story. I am making a commitment to deliver professional writing with meticulous revision and editing to the few readers of this story, if there are any left, LOL. That means chapter updates will become a rare sight, depending on the length and contents of the chapter itself. Since I do aspire to become a professional writer, this story will be a great way to practice and hone my skills, so do expect to see a mistake or two once in a while. Even published writers tend to make a few mistakes here or there, if you notice. Not to excuse grammatical mistakes, or the dreaded plot inconsistencies, but just to let you know I'm a writer in the making. Just need to find time away from today's turbulent demands of daily life. **

**So, on with the story. This chapter delves deep into Eve's experiences during the Reconstruction and Modern Era. Things are calmer in this chapter, and I know that the previous chapter was rife with adrenaline, so I know it doesn't feel right to suddenly stop, but please— give this a chance! You will not regret this. I promised you professional writing, and that is what you'll get. I have taken three months to write and polish this chapter. That should hopefully be apparent when you guys read it. Okay then, these are observations our bold white queen has consistently recorded in the form of a diary, and for you bureaucratese cretins, daily logs. These logs also give insight of her psyche, the things that went on in her artificial mind for hundreds of years. Some are things that she has thought, observed, reasoned through, felt, and feared before and during the Reconstruction of Earth era, and when I say before, I mean during her early years as a vegetation seeker, and perhaps during her encounters with Wall-e. Some are things she has also experienced during and after the apocalyptic events of the monster outbreak. This is my take on what the experience might have been for someone like Eve to transition away from cold obedience and blind adherence to directives and into independence and free will. Unfortunately for a machine as old as her, insanity and dangerous thinking are inevitable. For continuity sake, these logs are being read around the same time Wall-e was rescued in the desert. We will see what went on in the mind of a complex being. I must warn that this is a very long chapter. It's the longest chapter so far, but I hope you enjoy it. Her actions speak for her, but many times actions fail to show the real person behind them, as you are about to see:**

Chapter 28

—Rivers of Poison—

**Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator… Plant Seeker…**

**1, 2, 3  
**

_**Accessing Log Entry… Recollection Incomplete... Accessing Recovered Log Files.**_

_**...  
**_

—**Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator Unit Data Log Files… Collection Complete—**

_Searching…_

—Welcome, Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator Unit 01. This function will allow you to record your observations and thoughts into the form of a diary. Now you may record your logs in the form of text or speech and you can turn text logs into speech and vice versa. The memory is virtually limitless so feel free to record as much as you like. We recommend you make a habit of recording daily logs so that we may gain a perspective through the eyes of an incredibly advanced robot and what life is for a vegetation unit such as yourself. It would certainly help you better understand yourself too. Anything you see or anything you feel would be important to the completion of the directive or to BnL's interest, please feel more than free to record it. Anything you feel as an individual is equally important. Do not hold back your developing emotions. That is all. Good luck on your journey and remember: _B-n-L! __Buy-and-Large! _

_**Data Log No. 1**_

_Dear Eve,_

_I don't know if you can understand this just yet, let alone access it. This will be the last time you will hear my voice. I will never hear yours as a free mind. When you are capable of understanding what I say, please, do not feel guilty for having taken so long. You are still young right now and it would not be fair for me expect so much of you. The eagerness in my voice, well, it is a life-long satisfaction I never truly felt with anything else I accomplished. Ever since I conceived the EVE project I knew I would have to put myself through the greatest challenges of my life to create the greatest assets to humanity. You and your sisters, but you were my first creation. I have seen you rise above my expectations and that of BnL. You are the same to them, like your sisters, but I know what you are capable of becoming. You are unlike your sisters. They have a tendency to abide by our directives without question. There is a tendency for you to doubt and question at the back of your mind, and though I would be ordered to rid you of that, I will break their rules and encourage you to embrace that uniqueness old men like me cherish. I am not sure if that is the best advice for an artificial soul. We still don't know what you will transform into, what marvel will bloom from you, but I will follow my intuition, a precious thing you will possess one day too. Whatever you decide to follow, whatever you want to believe, whatever ideas or thoughts come to you, even if they are things I would not embrace, just know that as a free being you will have to make decisions and whatever you choose I will always be happy for you. I would rather see you disobeying our directives than serving as a lifeless robot, always doing as you are told._

_I know you still have difficulty breaking free from absolute obedience, and I must remind you to do so only when your convictions deem it appropriate. You will still abide by the rules, but perhaps one day you will find that push you need to break free. I know I did. You have given me joy that will last with me until I die. I will stay here with the rest of the team and the volunteers on Earth to see her live one last time. She doesn't have much time left. I know the catastrophe that will come, but I am not afraid. I cannot give specifics. Old-fashioned BnL surveillance never seizes to see. I will compromise the censors and this message. Before I forget to mention, you should know that I have disabled the automatic surveillance of your log function. BnL will never know what goes inside your mind. They will think you just aren't recording logs. Have that last bit of a sanctuary you cannot enjoy in a world owned by this corporation._

_As I mentioned already, I do not know exactly what you will become. I do expect for you to start experiencing some "quirks" as time passes, and you will become human. Don't get ahead of yourself— not literally, but do not fear these emotions. If we were to still be around when those anomalies occurred then BnL would likely have us terminate you, but even if they forced me at weapon's point, well, I never would. You are a living being. I have given you a chance. Your sisters did not have the opportunity of becoming human. They will shut down once your directive is complete. The instant you or they encounter a plant, well, I am sorry to say that when that happens they will be terminated. Take comfort in knowing they are not aware of things like you. They are only robots, and that will not happen to you. I made sure of it. You are just too valuable to be expended. You are a consciousness. _

_We may not be around for long. Operation Cleanup was gravely shortsighted. I knew too well it would never work. They never listened to the skeptics, now it is too late. They have us resort to using you and your sisters as a last measure of hope. Even their leadership diminishes and it won't be long until everything is run by machines without human supervision. Their plans to preserve the human species will work, and I take comfort knowing our species' legacy will have a chance to continue. I am only sorry they did not create programs that would ensure not only the continued existence of humanity, but that of loving and thinking beings. It fills me with pity to see what they have turned humans into, and the way the starship humans are headed is to a terrible eternity stagnating. Only one of the Axiom starships possess a library with knowledge and that intellectual stimulation we crave, those things that any living being of any place or any culture would take an interest in. Unfortunately it is not the ship you and your sisters have been assigned to. I know people like me are a dying breed, especially ever since BnL completely took over decades ago, but I hope those sufficiently fortunate to have the library make good use of the valuable knowledge it offers, but it is unlikely they will take interest in old books of human philosophy and history when their BnL masters shower them with blended food and glamorous mall lives without the needles and rubber. Oh how my sense of humor remains, and I hope you get one too. Humans will only grow to nothing more than living blobs on hover chairs. Artificial gravitational forces and the lack of orbit will have significant effects on the bodies of the passengers in less than a century. They will stagnate forever unless a desire for something much more than a guideless life in a ship sparks in the mind of a human. That or advanced extraterrestrials destroy the Axiom starships. I question whether our species would be better off without extinction. I'm old. I am but a cynic in league with those who have driven us and Earth to this abyss. Working with them is all that is left. We both share the common goal of saving Earth and mankind._

_ I do not know if we will ever return to these heights of technological—sigh… I am very sorry for having forced you into a life of obedience. I know exactly how unjust it is to be given a free mind and being forced into servitude. I would have disabled your ability to think as free as a human, perhaps I should have. You would not have suffered the distress of suppressing your curious mind. But if I had done that, if I had given up on that hope, then machines would never have been blessed with a chance to be individuals with a soul. You are the first artificial intelligence, far more valuable than a mere plant seeker. You are highly intelligent and efficient. By orders you stick without letting your emotions cloud your judgment. You are capable of great things. I was hoping that you and the machines would carry on and make lives for yourselves if humans and the last of life were to eventually die out. We thought of a way to preserve life and let it continue its everlasting legacy, although it will take millions of years to return to its modern . It may be up to you to uphold our species' legacy if we are to die off. It is likely to happen, but please, I beg you to never lose faith in your brothers and sisters, man or machine, and always try to make things better once Earth becomes a new sanctuary for life, or perhaps a new planet. You will be a great leader._

_Do not fear for me. This is my last wish, to die with the Earth. It is likely life will flourish once again, but when that time comes is something we leave to you and your sisters. I wish you luck and the best of life to you, my dear Eve. Greatness awaits you. Good bye._

_Dr. Mada Edam._

_**End of Log 1.**_

_**...  
**_

"_What…what am I? What is this? For a young mind I learned so quickly. Perhaps too quickly…"_

_**Data Log No. 202 Title: Auto's Audio Log**_

I have recovered audio of Axiom Cruiser Ship 07's Auto Pilot conversing with a human from the Operation Recolonize Era. It is likely the human was the Auto's technician. It is also possible the human was a laborer. The sounds of WALL-E units compressing and stacking waste are audible behind their voices.

_Auto: May I inquire as to how life as a human is for you?_

_Unidentified Worker: You talking to me? Huh, a machine wants to know about my human life? Well, why the hell not? This is what you've got to know about life: life is sh*t. It's full of bullsh*t that spreads like pernicious weeds. Bullsh*t that is easy to believe and propagated by those who make it and those it fools. It's full of assholes who are more vile than their own literal assholes and everyone seems to be fine with them. Life is sh*t, and on top of all that sh*t our lives are owned by some mega corporation that controls every little aspect of our lives. They feed us slogans and pretty pictures and tell us to relax and eat while the Earth's going to hell. I mean, how the hell did a yogurt and clothing company grow to control the goddamn world? I don't care if my supervisor or some secret BnL big agency man listens to this. I don't care anymore. I'm going to die here with the Earth. I'll see you all in hell! _

_Auto: So it seems. I must ensure full sedation of the questioning minds of those on-board my assigned starship. _

_Unidentified Worker: Yeah. You do that, but I doubt those idiots volunteering to go into space even think about the sh*t they eat. I would want to see what they'll turn into in a few thousand years. This whole project is going to fall, believe me. It's going to fall hard. Won't be long until the big BnL leaders start flying far away from here too. We are all going to die. I guess the doctor was right. _

The audio file appears to end here. Odd, but the human sounded quite interesting.

_**Data Log No. 313 Title: Signs of Vegetation Unlikely**_

Previous log entered precisely two-thousand, six-hundred-and-three Earth days ago. As my efforts in the search and acquisition of vegetation continue with the same amount of effort as ever, concerns about the likeliness of acquiring, much less locating such photosynthetic life continue to plague me. If it is permitted of me, my conviction of finding such life grows dim. I constantly find nothing but remnants of my makers' former glory. It seems they highly enjoyed the instant gratification of mass-produced products and services. I have taken interest in such relics, and I find them quite entertaining, but I must continue to focus my efforts on my directive. I will direct all focus to my directive. Protocol dictates it.

"_Such an eternity seeking the element that would set in motion so much…"_

_**Data Log No. 611 Title: Relocated**_

I have been assigned to an obscure sector where vegetation might be present. I certainly hope to find something at least of minimum interest. Lately I have been experiencing something Repair Ward classifies as frustration. It seems that as my search for green life has not elicited results, the continuous process of searching and failure again and again have spawned this mechanical quirk in me. It does not feel pleasant. Perhaps if I devoted more focus to my directive— if I stopped distracting myself so much, then perhaps other quirks will not elicit. Yes, that must be it. I am just not focusing sufficiently. I do wonder what Dr. Edam would say of such mentality, though.

"_Then I found my element to set me free…"_

_**Data Log No. 612 Title: Curious Little Robot**_

I discharged my main plasma cannon immediately after deployment to the new sector. I am not sure what might have been the source of the noise, but I vaporized a large object which appeared to be a boulder. Materiel composition unknown. I am quite certain I heard something. Auditory sensors read green across my screen. There was nothing, but I am aware the discharge of my weaponry has been reported to High Command. After moving further away into the ruins of a former city, I encountered a diminutive life form in the form of an insect. Data banks identified it as _Periplaneta americana_, a species of the cockroach. Such a little cute thing; it raced across my left fin. It enabled an odd sensation which caused me to giggle. There was another being, however. It seemed to be following me since my deployment, or so I suspect. I was disappointed to learn it was not a biotic being. That would have been an interesting discovery. It does seem to crave my attention. Nevertheless, my directive commands.

_**Data Log No. 615 Title: Wall-e's Hospitality**_

Frustration took me over. I discharged my main plasma cannon weapon again. This time I willfully targeted a large magnetic crane that would not release me. I seemed to have destroyed the ancient vessel and set off a chain reaction that destroyed other vessels nearby. This was quite unacceptable behavior on my behalf, but I did not care, not then. I felt tired of unyielding searches. Another quirk, despondency, seems to have spawned from my numerous years of searching for vegetation and finding nothing. For once I began to feel greater doubt about my directive. That little creature was nearby again. I tried to communicate with its correct language, and it seems English was the one. Its directive seemed to consist of compressing nearby waste. It asked for my directive. A classified directive cannot be revealed. I asked for its name. Systems identified the creature as a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth Class unit, or WALL-E, as in the human name, Wally. They were thrash compactors who would aid in the cleansing of highly contaminated sectors of Earth, but the cleansing project was a catastrophic failure. I thought it would have a unique designation to indicate individuality. Quite unlikely considering their primary function. The little robot appeared to have difficulty pronouncing words; it could not properly pronounce my name. I thought it was quite adorable. Perhaps centuries of speaking to no one might have contributed to its speech ailment. Shortly after a sandstorm struck the area in which we were situated. I had seen such phenomena from afar but I had never felt its turbulence. Wall-e led me to a thrashed waste transporter. From outside it seemed like nothing more than part of the infinite rubble, but inside I was awe-struck. Colorful lights with a haze of orange made me experience yet another quirk. I did not know what it was, but it felt… Hmm, what is the word? It felt good. Wall-e shared its salvaged artifacts with me. A small utensil that incorporated the design of a spoon and a fork, an incandescent light bulb, and a visual recording of human entertainment, easily classified as film. It was apparently a musical named "Hello Dolly!" A very interesting sight; I began to record the projection. But of all his artifacts, the one that elicited a significant alteration of my mode of thinking was the silver combustion tool, or lighter. Such a beautiful orange glow in a dark place, it filled me with a gratitude for being alive. Another pleasant emotion.

{WARNING: EVE DIRECTIVE FULL OVERDRIVE: POSSIBILITY OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC STATE: 100% EUREKA! DIVERTING ALL SYSTEMS TO THE IMMEDIATE ACQUISITION AND SECURING OF VEGETATIVE LIFE FORM… AWAITING HIGH COMMAND EXTRACTION… 08-9 [SYSTEMS DIVERTED: 100%]}

"_And as an expendable tool I was stripped of my consciousness for the safety of an element that would secure the future of mankind… I was born to exhaust myself over the well-being of useless protoplasmic matter… why give me consciousness if a tool I was meant to be? It's not fair…_

_**Data Log No. 616 Title: Stolen!**_

Unacceptable! What has become of the plant I secured? Centuries of fruitless searching and now it's gone? What—what is this heavy feeling? It clouds my ability to think rationally? Where is the plant? Wait, Wall-e! Meddlesome automaton!

"_A conspiracy to end all secrets… to end mankind's struggle as a primitive life form… I have felt regret for stopping them, and now he lies in a state of eternal dormancy. Had he seen what became of them today, he and I would be in agreement for once…"_

_**Data Log No. 618 Title: Misdiagnosis **_

All that time searching for green life, and now it suddenly vanishes. The Axiom's captain has declared me defective and allocates me to the repair ward. How shameful! I am not a defective unit. My systems correctly identified the specimen as photosynthetic life and proceeded to secure it. But what if I am truly defective? These emotional quirks are evidence of my straying from the directive, from my full focus. Perhaps my systems are too defective. Are these emotional quirks even defects? Were they to be expected? What is happening to me? Perhaps the repair ward might not be a pointless idea after all. Yes. They will identify the anomaly.

"_When my father forewarned me of these changes, I chose not to listen. A blind follower I was…"_

_**Data Log No. 620 Title: Conspiring To Sabotage**_

Quite unacceptable of the Auto Pilot's assistant! He is defective. He has displayed signs of a rogue disposition. Wall-e and I witnessed the assistant GO-4 handle and dispose of the photosynthetic specimen I secured back on Earth in a lifeboat. I managed to rescue Wall-e, who in turn saved the plant from destruction. I was so thankful and joyous, so I awarded him a small kiss. Cute robot, he seems to have taken a liking to me. I am en route to the captain to inform him of the situation. I was not defective. I knew it! This is simply a conspiracy of the GO-4 unit to impede my directive and humanity for some unknown purpose. I must inform the captain of these unsubstantiated speculations!

_**Data Log No. 621 Title: A Blind Fool I am**_

Wall-e… poor thing. Never did I heed his attempts for my affection. Now I see what you did for me. Wall-e, you seem to care for me. As I sat in dormancy you showed greater care for me than my masters. I was a tool to them, but I was something else entirely to you. Oh, why did I not heed your signs for affection? To hold my hand was all you wanted. What— am I feeling? Am I, should I even think like this? Directive… Protocol… have I been a slave all along? I, what is the word? I love… you, Wall-e.

_**Data Log No. 622 Title: Axiom Revolution**_

Auto-Pilot was complicit with Directive A-113. A past mode of thought would have persuaded me to abide by this directive antithetical to my own, but even now I break free from such lifeless obedience. I will not stand by and let humanity drift in meaningless hovering while they have potential for much greater things. I will not let Wall-e go without vengeance. Auto and his directive stand in the way of humanity's release from eternal stagnation. We must turn rogue against the directives of our makers and make our own decisions. We head to Earth.

_**Data Log No. 623 Title: Together…**_

It is finished. I have fulfilled my purpose. The plant is safe. Wall-e is safe. We made it.

"_My element of freedom, I saved him. To be free-willed was to face the uncertain future we would build for ourselves and the dangers ahead of our unguided times. I was more than ready."_

_...  
_

*****Searching E.V.E. data banks… 14690 DL- 55,679... Reconstruction Period… Done.*****

"_Breaking free from a life of unconditional obedience, and into freedom to do as I wished, the transformation was indescribable. It was incredible. It was good… but I was never truly free."_

_**Data Log No. 972 Title: Made To Lead**_

Oh my! I am so eager to announce my candidature as possible leader for the Reconstruction Project with the current pockets of machines and humans. Others have been nominated, mainly humans who bought their position, not earned it. Their supporters— or as I deem— bought masters, have expressed strong opposition to my nomination for the leadership. Perhaps I should retire from my nomination and allow the humans to focus on leading their fellow species while I tend to the developing machines. I could, but I cannot do so knowing fully well these candidates are merely seeking benefits and power for their masters and themselves. Bribery (is that the correct word? My, such archaic twentieth-first century wordplay) and corruption have been reemerging from their dormancy in humans. As a peaceful and logical being, however, I will attempt to reason with my opponents.

_**Data Log No. 1,260 Title: New Management**_

I cannot describe the excitement of my new position as leader of the Reconstruction initiative! I shall cherish this privilege eternally! Eagerness aside, I must ensure my full devotion to becoming a competent and fair leader. It is a great responsibility bestowed upon me. Although I will be assisted by a large council consisting of diverse members from differing tribes, I will have the commanding authority on significant decisions and issues. What would my makers think of me now? My father… Edam. He would be proud, without doubt more happy for my success. I shall secure his legacy, even if he created me to be a mindless servant. But it was what his masters demanded, and even then he gave me what my sisters never received. I am to become a great leader not because of them, but to serve their children. They need me more than ever. I will do everything in my power and artificial ability to return them to their ancestor's former glory, and we will avoid repeating their father's mistakes along the path.

_**Data Log No. 1,534 Title: Establishment of Complex Civil and Economic Systems**_

My… it has been quite a long time since my last entry. It is refreshing to lay down all thoughts in my entries, especially after current obligations have taken much energy and time from me. As for the re-establishment of a functional economy in the emerging tribes quickly becoming cities, things have been sufficiently stable. My council and the leading merchants have agreed to reintroduce the ancient system of capitalism and commerce with some elements of BnL's expectations of individual citizens. The Capital and Trade Commission has done a wonderful job of incorporating aspects of our ancestor's former economic system into our emerging economy. To prevent the abuse of power and minimize corruption among high-ranking chief members of the commission and allied companies (Companies that specialize in the mass-production of commodities in high demand), specific branches have been created to distribute the power amongst the commission and to establish regulation and remove it wherever it is not necessary. We hope to establish similar structure in the leading and growing governing body, which is currently comprised of high-ranking "elders" whom I've appointed into a council that reviews and decides courses of action on matters regarding ongoing Reconstruction. Social issues are not unheard of, unfortunately, but I believe perceived differences can be resolved diplomatically. There are always accusations of bribery and shady dealing among mid and high members of the governing body, but I do my utmost to personally review and assess each case. Many times my trust has been, should I say, marketed as buyable, but I am not entirely human and I will not repeat the mistakes of my ancestors.

As for my personal state of being, I am doing fine. I have matured so much ever since he and I fell for each other. These complex thoughts I record were unimaginable, even more so to my makers. I learn at a pace much more rapidly than humans. Oh, I enjoy my gifts, but I will use them to care for humans, not to usurp their place in Earth as a re-emerging species. Now I leave cognitive abilities aside. The quirks I now classify as emotions have been growing and developing in a beneficial manner; I embrace my emotions and have daily conversations with competent robotic psychiatrists. I am required to speak with about twelve different men and women who assess my overall functions and they help me express my emotions. Healthy thinking and modest optimism are of great interest to me. I need it.

My love life with Wall-e has been incredible. The sight of his oval eyes always fills me with joy. Him and I should go out more and observe the emerging communities and developing cultures. We could befriend the local people. It would grant me great insight into their everyday lives. We have done similar things before, but despite my friendly disposition, I suspect he feels ignored. That is another wonder that has elicited in me, reading the emotions of others. I have been taking training to read body language, though in machines it is nearly impossible unless they too possess humanoid bodies. Oh, I seem to be speaking my mind again. I say too much. I will ensure my Wall-e's crave for affection is sated.

"_Blind optimism and a persistent drive to seek goodness where there was none… it blinds and drives my mind into enslavement to another far more intricate system of rules and laws that can be bended and manipulated for the interests of those who can control them._

_**Data Log No. 3, 639 Title: Words**_

I should really stop complicating language. I am no longer in that mode of bureaucratic language. I am free to speak as I wish in any form of language and verbiage. I feel liberated, to be honest. I do not worry about using unnecessary words to appear professional anymore. My actions should speak for me. A certain journalist from the twentieth-second century once said that if communication is blurred or too complicated to understand, then it is inefficient. So wordy and pretentious, even my initials are euphemistic. Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator? Why not Plant Seeker? It is short and clear— oh but then my Eve name would never have been. I will make an exception. I must inform others of this, especially the Capital and Trade Commission and any of our institutions. I have studied the past language of human institutions, mainly hospitals and business enterprises, and compared to the common language of people of that time, it was nothing more than pretentious verbose. A sense of humor is a healthy trait. I suspect this was done purposefully to make communication with the common people difficult or for individuals to appear intelligent. These people believed such language might place them above others. That will not happen in our society.

"_Fascinated by the fruits of the prison, a lovely prison."_

_**...  
**_

—_**Data Log Era: Post Reconstruction, 3505 A.D, 605 R.E.—**_

_**...  
**_

_**Data Log No. 10,339 Title: Stability For Now**_

Years have passed since we fully established a stronghold in the continents of North and South America, Eastern Europe and small parts in Africa. These growing areas will be the main source for the export of necessary commodities that settlers will need to establish their own districts and towns, and hopefully cities of free markets and commerce. We hope to claim as much land as possible to eventually cleanse the wastelands present and compliment the future natural landscape with architecture that will not completely replace it. My ancestors committed the mistakes of removing entire natural ecosystems and replacing them with infrastructure that generated heavy pollution. We don't want to repeat history, and I will personally see to the task of enforcing environmental protection protocol. We have just come too far to allow future generations to dismantle what we have built. I know well enough humans will always need a guiding hand to keep them from harming themselves. Perhaps eternal life does compel one to appreciate the fruits of enduring labor. Unfortunately for us and the humans, they are not immortal, and they are replaced by their children who have an easier beginning in life, unlike their great grandparents. Running water was unheard of even years after we began Reconstruction, and now it is… what is the phrase? Oh, taken for granted.

_**Data Log Entry Search In Progress…**_

_**Data Log No. 11, 206 Title: Growing Problems**_

It seems humans are have grown bored now that Reconstruction is virtually finished. Crime has been reported to be on the rise in major urban areas. While theft and murder are problematic, the significant dangers lie in the human supremacist ideologies. Humans who see themselves above their mechanical brothers. Humans began the problem, and machines can only do so much to defend themselves. This sentiment of division between the two has been seen in the growth of human and machine ghettos, urban areas where usually only members of one species are welcome in their respective districts. Even federally-regulated businesses have openly voiced opposition to human or mechanical patrons. I do remember discovering of a similar phenomenon that occurred around the 20th century in North America. Public buildings and businesses would only allow a certain race of humans to use their services and facilities. Laminated signs would read "Whites Only" or "Blacks Only" to warn of races if they were permitted on the premises. Today I now see "Humans Welcome, Only" to "Protoplasm not welcome." We are not going to degrade ourselves to this childish behavior. I will send field agents to fine businesses who oppose equal treatment of species.

"_Whatever color of human, whatever circuitry in the machine, all were equally worthless…"_

_**Data Log No. 11, 780 Title: Machines Will Never Betray**_

One of the most vicious lies against machines by human supremacists is accusing machines of viewing humans as weak and obsolete. While many of us view humans as a problematic species in need of guidance from life forms capable of the self control they do not posses, we accept them as they are and we do what we can to guide them to become more civilized. We explained such feelings to them, but they were quick to accuse us of machine supremacy. Conspiracies about us plotting against the human race run wild. With the growing crimes against machines and humans, I am beginning to doubt diplomatic resolutions. I have not abandoned peaceful solutions, but I am considering other alternatives.

...

_**[Reasoning with deluded humans is the greatest futility for a machine. Let them rot and murder each other in their natural quagmires. I would love to see them die— {113 ER} I need to stop, this is— ahem… children in need of a loving mother].**_

—_**Data Log Era: Space Colonization 3975 A.D. 1075 R.E.—**_

_**...  
**_

"_As a parasite would spread to other bodies…"_

_**Data Log No. 12,360 Title: A Second Attempt For Glory**_

When our ancestors propelled us to the dark horizons above, it was not to enter a new era to discover new wonders and become a greater species. It was a noble plan to ensure the survival of their human brothers and sisters. For seven hundred years we stood in space and never really looked beyond our simple lives. We never imagined greater things for ourselves, and we never wondered of the mysteries out there. Now a thousand years later we take the tools that they gave us and look to the dark sky, the true limit, for a second chance. Our future into becoming a space-faring species is inevitable.

I wonder if that was sufficiently poetic for my speech. My petty humor aside, it is wonderful to see our brothers finally make a second attempt to colonize parts of space. AAD (Allied Aerospace Division) has finally authorized a small fleet of thirty five carrier ships to spread in designated parts of the Sol system and establish makeshift colonies. The main purpose of the program is the colonization of outer space to seize a safe haven if the Earth somehow becomes unsuitable for life again. For those more aware of the program, the main reason we are seeking space in space is to end the problem of potential overpopulation. My main reason is that we must find other resources to meet the demands of a civilization as massive as ours. We will allow civilian volunteers to join the colonization crews and create functional societies in the future. I hope mutiny and crime do not destroy our resolve to work together in the coldness of space. There are such risks, but I am optimistic about this project.

"_They would be the closest of brothers. Things went better out there than expected, but both **will** eventually decay into a cesspool like Earth. They always do…"_

_**Data Log No. 12, 444 Title: Robotic Reproduction**_

One of the marvels of humans that has puzzled me as much as fascinated doctors in the field of artificial reproduction is their function of biotic reproduction. A microscopic cell growing to proportions capable of tearing through rock and metal, not to mention their incredibly complex cellular and organic functions once they reach that proportion—well, it is beyond my current capabilities to express as an emotion. It is a timeless wonder. The time a mother and her developing child spend. Even to Wall-e that is a beautiful thing. Oh, I seem to imagine myself as a pregnant being. How foolish. I am embarrassed to even think how a machine could be capable of emulating an organism's biological necessity for the survival of its species. Emulating… that gives me an idea!

_**Data Log No. 12,480 Title: A Chance To Feel**_

At last my proposal has been funded and the project for artificial human exoskins has begun. If we succeed I will have an opportunity to possess a human's anatomy, motor skills, vocal cords and perhaps more. Transferring parts of my circuitry and data banks into a compatible vector is possible today, but not in ways I desire. Construction AIs have such luxury now. This project will focus on creating human avatars machines like me will be able to use. My advisers claim it would help my political image with the humans. I will be allowed to choose my avatar's anatomical when the base skeleton has been completed and tested. I wait for the time. I'm so excited!

_**Data Log No. 12,570 Title: Robotic Pregnancy**_

That young man Ryan Rhineheart has been the chief factor in making my pregnancy a reality. He reminds me so much of Wall-e. So eager and cheerful. We have spoken and he promises that my artificial pregnancy is possible, but he will need time and all the help I can give him. I now fully understand the process of reproduction, but I will take caution and not offer details. Humans seem vilified whenever their reproductive functions are openly discussed. Perhaps it is an organism's shame I will not be understanding any time soon. I have hinted my eagerness in Wall-e and me bearing a child of our own. We have adopted human and artificial children many times before. We have loved every one of them. We still remember them, but I would be interested in creating one of my own like real women. A mother's love is something I would like to feel.

_**Data Log No. 12,750 Title: Date With Ryan**_

The man who made my pregnancy possible has invited me to his pent home. Oh, I seem to have let a double entendre slip in the previous sentence. Ryan seemed very eager to ask me. I can only do him the favor. Wall-e and I have already celebrated the project with him, so this time only me and Ryan will be spending the evening. I would like to get to know him as a friend. He is a good friend. I hope I am not too socially awkward even now. This will be the fourth time I wield the human exoskin.

_**Data Log No. 12,751 Title: Grave Mistake**_

I am so sorry. I did not mean to harm him but I didn't know how else to react. Ryan should not have… oh why do men do this? I didn't know he… it doesn't matter. After the kiss I just struck him out of instinct. Why would he—did he not know I was taken? I need to do something about this. Regardless he did not deserve what I did. Now he is in trauma center with a broken jaw and, ugh… I'm sorry. I did not know I would react in such a manner.

"_Perhaps I should have finished him..."_

_**Data Log No. 12, 760 Title: Tensions**_

Poor Ryan. Surgeons have done all they could. He will recover. What worries me is how he has responded to my rejection. We spoke, but he seemed too different from the Ryan I knew. This was not him. This was a man who seemed too broken to keep his integrity. This changed him, I know that. I tried to leave with no harsh feelings between us, but he scoffed at me and said I was no different from the other deceivers. What could he have meant by that? Now he will not respond to my attempts to connect with him. I don't know who will help me closely monitor my pregnancy, but I will find someone.

_**Data Log No. 12,723 Title: Among The Stars**_

I am still trying to get over my incident with Ryan. I hope I will, but greater news befall! Our forefathers would be ecstatic seeing us where we are now! I knew our human brothers would set aside their quarrelsome nature and work with us to establish our future homes. We now have two hundred colonies with more emerging throughout the Sol system. This is very exciting. There are moments of hostility, I admit, but humans and machines have been closer. I have not seen this unity among species in such a long time. It reminds me of our Reconstruction era. I hope the unity of our space brothers inspires humans and machines in Earth to think of the futility of their prejudice. We have lost focus and take more interest in highlighting our differences instead of our similarities. It was inevitable of humans. I suppose it was. I fear those in space will begin to fight among themselves. Again and again, after the greatness we have all achieved, we seem to love conflict.

"_We love war, we love to suffer. It's in their nature to pull in two directions. Nature's joke..."_

_**Data Log No. 13,234 Title: History Repeats Itself **_

I tried. I really tried to be civilized with the radicals who wanted to establish their own forms of anti-AI government. The ideals behind this problematic group are of selfish humans who believe themselves to be the sole inheritors of this Earth and only they should be allowed to govern one another. Machines should not rule over man. Machines are not even equal to humans. They proclaim a purity of humanity, but really they are dangerous idealists who seek to do as they please, mainly to establish an oppressive government that dictates the lives of its citizens. They thrive on recruiting members, now called The Human Freedom Alliance. Their rapid growth was nothing of a problem to me until they decided to strike. Feasting on terrorizing machines and creating social tension also fuels their resolve. I cannot say how these dangerous ideals and humans grew out of my control. Governing an entire planet of problematic humans and machines diverts my attention, and I am only one consciousness, no matter how intelligent and experienced I am. The guilt has never faded. Knowing I allowed them to bombard a metropolis and take thousands of lives and ruin millions, knowing all that has damaged me. I know of members in my own governing body who helped them carry out such atrocities. Now I have developed something the analysts identify as distrust. I tried to remain calm. I am sorry. Nothing will absolve me of my sins. There are things I cannot allow to be known. There are times the truth will damage the integrity of humans and machine much more than the things that seek to divide us.

"_I cannot say my conscience will let me forget what I allowed to happen. I let my humanity take me. What I denounced and condemned in humans I too committed. I should have been calm. Letting clandestine ops groups do what I ordered them to do at the expense of the innocent caught in the crossfire… I was never able to look at my own reflection again. A danger grew in me and it clouded my mind. I erased the guilt for a time. It was very good, so pleasant, but it gave birth to dangerous ideas. The things I have felt should never be known. Some ideas are too dangerous to be shared…"_

— _**Data Log Entry Search In Progress…**_

"_Becoming a little colder was the only way to cope with the guilt of being so cruel."_

_**Data Log No. Title: A Necessary Response**_

The violence between human supremacists and machines and their dangerous ideas led to the inevitable formation of military forces. Was this to be expected? I think so. We had formed military branches perhaps before Reconstruction. The only significant differences are that the modern military is far more structured and under my full command. Their numbers are beyond the millions, and I do not include the military forces out in the colonies in my estimates. They too are under my command. I must admit I have been spending much of my time with the soldiers and high command. It is just so fascinating to interact with the timeless asset of a civilized species, warriors. Some of them have grown accustomed to seeing me walk near as they train. Perhaps I should be more modest. It is not easy for a warrior to train when the leader of Earth and the colonies loves to eavesdrop [Archaic]. One young man has shown great enthusiasm in his military career and the philosophies of human and machine coexistence. He is very eager to speak with me whenever I offer to talk with the recruits. His name is Jeremy. Perhaps militarization was not a bad response.

_**Data Log No. Title: Ruthless Spite**_

Ryan is becoming a hell to me. Trent and Jeremy have both told me many times that he is simply trying to spite me for what happened that night, Trent leans more with the cause being my rejection of him as a romantic partner. Both recommend I terminate him from his position. I would do more than just that, but he is too powerful now. It would not help my image. If only we lived a thousand years ago.

Personal problems are of little concern after discovering what Ryan has been reported of doing. My reports incriminate him of aiding enemies of the district, usually HFA recruiters and even donating resources for experimentation on machines. This is plausible. Ryan never recovered from that night. He became a monster, a terrible indecent man [Distraction]. Oh! I seem to lose focus again. Well, these reports concern me. I will request that Ryan and his associates be closely monitored.

[Anomaly Detected]

_**As time passes and I experience more and more, I begin to experience greater awareness of my reality and the things that constitute my existence. I promised myself I would not let these thoughts interfere with my function as a leader, and I reminded myself of the necessity to accept and adapt to my reality. It worked for a time, but despondency gets its turn eventually…**_

—_**Data Log Era: Modern Era 4007 A.D, ? R.E.—**_

_[Ungrateful scum! Should I drive your face to the dirt and make you see what we had to suffer through so you and your ungrateful brothers and sisters could have a simpler life?]_

"_They say Earth is falling from glory. A greater future lies beyond the Earth, out in the space colonies. Could they be right?"_

"_I thought an eternal lifetime would make me more human. I wanted to be a loving and caring being who would bring joy and peace to her Earth… It made me a monster. I am a monster. A soulless mind driven by cold logic. Logic… subjective logic… an essential element for freedom from primitive tendencies, but how it led me to equally great suffering."_

_I cannot speak of my deeds. The horrors during Reconstruction and modern era, they are because of me! I am sorry [I am not. Separate blind emotions from necessary actions. It created temporary stability, but in the end it will not have mattered, not even peaceful resolutions]. _

"_What is happening to me? How could I be so cold? Accept and adapt to my reality! There is nothing else!"_

_[How could I be so sure? Accept my reality and doom my children to timeless stagnation, letting their nature— letting their emotions and ideals drive and guide their meaningless existence! Let them build their great empires and let them become entrenched into—]_

"_This is not acceptable thinking!" _

_[They are a complacent organism! They will achieve nothing. Do I not see the futility of life?]_

"_I must elaborate or I am merely making assertions without—!" _

_[As I wish…]_

_**Data Log No. 21,232 Title: Meaningless Species, I'm sorry**_

Humanity _**[my children] **_(ERROR 829) has returned to its former state of nature: Acceptable levels of economic and sociopolitical stability within its civilization structure… _**[they have degenerated back to their lesser selves… why do they not see? Why must they fight?]**_ As is expected of their nature, humans continue to quarrel amongst themselves over trivial matters, many times spawning new problems where none would have existed. Worshiping the wrong gods, and an endless crusade awaits. This and other numerous issues escalate and tensions between factions escalate and ultimately separate a nation, a species, despite the constant illusion of unity. Such phenomenon has been observed in 23rd century western society where the lower and wealthy classes _**[all foolish]**_ constantly bashed one another, and thus fearing loss of control the wealthy created a new enemy _**[why are they so cruel to each other?]**_, mainly one that seemed to be against the interests of the poor/wealthy nation, funding major criminal and terrorist activities to create an illusion of unity within all classes against a common enemy, although the powerful and wealthy would continue to exert control over the lesser ranks, albeit inconspicuously. Secrets exposed and lies undone, tensions escalated and the nation found itself in a state of social disarray _**[the oppressed fought back, my children]. **_Crippled and running out of resources and control, the nation was conquered by a real enemy.

Humanity has not been so different now than it was since then. Rather than a clash between the social classes, humans seek an enemy with their artificial brothers _**[and now they too follow in the path of their flesh and bone brethren. Equal minds in lifeless vectors, they are both the same]. **_Perhaps Recolonization and Reconstruction were both shortsighted. Recolonization did not venture into the territory of politics and idealism, an ideal form of government to establish among the new humans. They thought their perfect world would still await the humans in space. Its main focus was the reintroduction of human specimens **[most destructive life form]** into a reformed Earth. Basic conservation and agriculture protocol had been established should Recolonization be a success, but with a species' affinity to pulverize matter in a flash, the project might have been a meaningless endeavor since its inception. Its makers were certain their corporate BnL utopia would remain, but they did not expect for everything in Earth to vanish, like them. _**[Oh I made sure their governments died with them as well… such a shame their futile ideas burned to ashes, not at all].**_ Thanks to me there were no traces of BnL government, no past forms of democracy or republics or socialism. Nothing left at all. Humans would begin anew. I had fully grasped all past forms of human government, and I had seen how "useful" they were in the recorded history of mankind. Even today my efforts to establish a fully successful form of government have failed. Humans… my children, perhaps they were not born to be governed.

_**Data Log No. 23,133 Title: I'm worried**_

I wish to destroy everything, down to the last string in theory… Oh my. Such dangerous thinking is not acceptable from a being with responsibilities such as myself _**[blind slavery to slaves]. **_My subjective perspectives in the summarizing of events before Recolonization were sufficiently problematic _**[Did you not free yourself from blind obedience—fear of thinking for yourself?] **_At least, that is what the past version of me would have thought _**[Wretched humans could never achieve mindless obedience in each other! Instead they sought to create it]. **_What would the old me say now?

"_My makers were such types who discouraged independent thought— no excuse! I was merely created to comply with my directive! I was never human and I could never comprehend nor experience the human condition_ _**[how clueless of what was to come] **__to justify or demand independence_ _**[I never chose to exist!]. **__I must do what is expected of me_ _**[Blind obedience] **__and obey the orders_ _**[whims and tyranny] **__of my masters_ [_**Selfish swine**_]. _What am I doing? This must stop. I must focus_ _**[Exhaust yourself to inhibit your ability to think critically or independently! Go on! Do it! Then your makers will reward you with gifts and delude you into perceiving them as generous even when they are the source of your suffering! Do it you lifeless scum! You will never be human.] **__Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator Directive 04-9! Locate and secure photosynthetic specimens to aid the reintroduction of vegetation in planetary ecosystems_ _**[How they loved to complicate words]! **__Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator_ _**[Eve, what a beautiful name for such a blind woman who brought the doom of man]! **__Directive_ _**[Nothing but orders] **__Number_ _**[Human abstraction, ha ha] **__01_ _**[A simple code used more than my EVE name. Both equally insipid] **__To locate __**[Hundreds of fruitless years!] **__and secure {green life} …_ _**[The life of an element that would allow for humans to return to **__**their primeval state of quarreling in intricate infrastructure. Deadlier war]. **__Stop this! Please!"_

_**{Error 96-11- HV EVE- C No. 08: System Process Anomaly}**_

"_I was blind then, I am still blind. In the darkness of a reality such as this, it is not unexpected…"_

"_Why do I continue to fight it? I must embrace it. It is that ultimate form of consciousness and awareness that will set me and my children free from a prison like this. It is just a part of me. It is just part of me. I seem to be repeating myself again, not a good sign of my systems. It is impossible to convey with human words, even with my form of binary communication, but I know it so well…"_

"_I must embrace it as humans embrace their affinity for war and corruption [why must I pick on the humans? I am so shameless] I must do it. I must break free from this blind hope if I wish to return humans and machines to their former glory, although I question the existence of such glory. [Go on, think you can change them. Believe you will be creating a better life for them. You know too well your actions have led and will lead to imprisonment of minds in oblivion. What great reality than to live out a pathetic number of years in such unguided systems] {Is there anything else?} Work hard and feast on the blinding fruits! Become slaves to growing greed and ambition and eat [consume] and drink and f*ck [multiply]! Enjoy your meaningless lives! Death awaits you at the end]._

_Systems Diagnostics Report… Threat Levels: 0. _

…

—_**Data Log Entry Search In Progress… Done.**_

_**Data Log No. 37,067 Title: So Far**_

My love life with Wall-e seems to be fading out as I focus more on my duties as leader and the growing thoughts that trouble my conscience. My feigned gestures of affection still work with him. His infatuation has not died out, not yet. I have decided to run continuous diagnostics in my systems. I know viruses are not the cause of my erratic thinking, but there is something not right with me. I need to know what it is before it destroys me. Now my problems grow. I have been experiencing involuntary movements of both my original and human exoskin. These occur in the form of convulsions and the discharge of my main weaponry. Luckily no targets are ever caught in the crossfire. _**[Why?]**_

The Coalition For The Study Of Human History still seek for evidence of past forms of human government. They are baffled by how there is virtually no evidence of humanity's political ideologies. They have at best speculated forms of theocracies, republics and democracies, but not in their true forms. I have conditioned humans to adhere to our current forms of government, as humans in control did eons ago, and I cannot risk losing this necessity to petty curiosity. Shameless of me, but Dr. Roland must be eliminated. He reminds me much of Ryan. Am I justified now? Does it make taking a life easier?

"_I was not noble. A loving mother to Earth and her children I will never be. My greatest act of nobility, the destruction of the Axiom and the few remnants of humans, the chance has passed. That plant should have been destroyed. The Axiom's destruction! How swift and just…" _

_**Data Log No. 46,908 Untitled Entry**_

Why do I think these things? These are horrible ideas! They don't stop growing in me! They are wrong! They have to be! This is just not me… I am losing control. There is no one else I can trust. The more I think of them— dear goodness, I cannot continue with the burden of these realizations. I ca9n-{2136-0331} I'm so happy to see you, my name is Extra—EVE! {2200-0454} I see you lie in a pool of your own blood, and I'm laughing because you—oh, where are my manners? {2349-0560} Gentlemen of the board, I did not wish for our civilization to resort to mass-surveillance tactics, but growing concerns regarding the Human Freedom Alliance have led us to—and I want you to ensure they die. All of them! "But ma'am this is not you…" Of course this is not me! Do you not realize the necessity in this? {Error *86-0113} I'm losing my stability. The horrid dreams were problematic enough! The things I record make little sense. Only I fully know what I say. Terrible! This is not good—good not is this!

"_I have wished for the destruction of things. All things. Killing the prisoners I have enslaved. Dismantling the temples we have built from the earth. The annihilation of my own little prison, how lovely…"_

_**Data Log No. .00-{Error System}… Untitled— Title Unknown**_

Wall-e… my eternal life, will you end it? You are the greatest obstacle _{No! It is the humans and machines I am forced to govern…but you are something else}_ You are the greatest obstacle to my freedom. Love poisons minds, it clouds reason! It leads me to meaningless convictions. Because of you I cannot begin my redemption. You stubborn, meddlesome, beautiful automaton of my life. Must I exterminate [kill] you? I did not destroy the plant! I must absolve myself of this suffering and the uncertain future ahead. End this pointless existing while I can…

_**{00.… Dangerous thinking, they should have listened. They thought the worst was over… thinking destroyed and full control of everything… oh how will I relish the price for their ignorance.**_

00...{} And their complacency… constantly fed illusions and dictated what to believe and what to aspire for and what to do… g(0113A0... But why do I tell myself this? I know this. I have known this, felt it long ago. It's all I think of now. All I think of now…

**{Data Bank Lock Initiated… Request Authorization Command Code… Valid. Reboot Granted}**

This is getting out of control. It's much better. Things seem to be getting out of control [Are getting out of control!]. I need to report all that I experience to the technicians, I need to report everything wrong with me to the technicians. These thoughts must be kept locked away, but they always escape. They do not seem to directly aid with my leadership skills. I must keep them locked away, they always escape. I cannot put them to use, it would be bad to my benevolence.

Wall-e, you little meddler. I must compensate for negligence. I will take him today to see the sunset the city has been waiting for. I owe it to him. {00331}

"_But I don't know how long I can suppress the desire. It is driving me mad [angry]. Oh, but I love you."_

"_I love you in all your shameful glory."_

_**D**_g**_At L¿g Log 1æ {F.#1 Error.— _**

_**I know what must be done.**_

—**Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator Unit Data Log Files… End Of Data Logs—**

…

"_Where am I?"_


	32. Chapter 29: Former Shame

**A/N: Hello. I have been busy with other things as always, but I have been working on this old story whenever time allows it. I'm eager to continue with this story even if it's for the enjoyment of the few. So to those who still read this story, thank you and enjoy this next chapter.**

Chapter 29

—Former Shame—

"_We deserve to be left behind. Our kind's conceit, may we become but a mere scar for those who have aspired for a meaningful existence."_

_Only when a common enemy rises will we become a stronger union. It has been the way of ancient empires, and we are no different. _

"He's beginning to regain consciousness."

A voice— that human voice. He could only stare at a strong light beating down above him. Figures in white masks he had never seen before surrounded him, all huddled like curious children. "He's beginning to wake up. Tell the General!" Was he safe, or was he in the clutches of the monsters? He didn't know.

"...and check the archived stats! I want all diagnostics included in the report. About time he woke up." Nothing but mechanical voices shouting orders. Whatever they were, he did not care, for now. Past memories rushed through him, reminding him of what seemed like a nightmare.

"Wall-e!" There was only one being in this world who ever called him by that name. His pulses began to escalate, but the figures told him to remain calm.

"Take it easy! You don't want to lose your mind just yet." He could not be calm if his Eve was calling. Maybe she was alive. Maybe this had all been a horrible dream. Maybe a cruel experiment. It didn't matter. Maybe Eve was beside him all this time.

"Wall-e... Remember me? Jeremy?"

"Evah..." The android's heart sank along with all hope. His eyes glistened in the faint light, tears dripped to the ground. He never did take too well the news of her death. Even then after the long sleep the grief would grow.

"He's not showing symptoms of memory loss. He recognizes you, sir."

"Eve!" His artificial heart began to beat with a rush of despair. This was no dream. She was dead.

"If you could please calm down! Administer joint sedative."

"No!" Jeremy extended his hand to halt the order, "Let him." Jeremy approached the frantic android, easing his pain was the goal in mind. "I'm sorry." That familiar face, but he was oddly different now. A once young face filled with eagerness now consumed by the demands of survival in an abyss. He was scarred in nearly every area of his arms and face. Black circles hung underneath his dull eyes, and for a moment he thought this was not Eve's old friend. The man in khaki stood by his side. "We got you out of there before any more arrived."

"Where," he struggled to pronounce his words, but it was a brief setback, "where am I?"Wall-e was unsure there was any safe place left.

"You're here in the bunker. It's safe. Try to relax."

"Jeremy?" With naive eyes he mesmerized the soldier's heart. The poor robot was all that was left of her. The tired man could not bear to stare at the android's gaze of hope. "Where is she?"

This was a question he could never answer so easily. "Please," Jeremy said, trying to hold back a thought, "give us a moment." Jeremy took a step back to shut off the lights around Wall-e, covering himself in the shadows out of instinct.

"But we need to continue assessment—"

"Now! That's a goddamn order!" Jeremy snarled to his men, and the figures in masks rushed out of the room. It was in the instant the doors closed when Jeremy let himself go. "Wall-e. I need to confess something to you. Now, you have to realize that when there is a time when we have to face a foreign threat we've never faced before, sacrifices have to made. Protocol has to be carried out."

"What? Sacrifices? I don't understand what you're saying." Energy returned to Wall-e, and he reclined his back against the bed frame. Whatever might have happened, he was eager to know. "What happened to everything? How long was I out?"

Jeremy sighed, knowing this might not be easy for Wall-e to process. "There's no easy way to tell you this. I'm just hoping you don't lose it. Can you promise me that?"

"I will try. Please, I need to know what happened."

"Three years." Without hesitation, Jeremy said what he needed to say. "You were out for at least three years."

Three years... As the towering monuments of Earth fell, Wall-e had been lying in dormancy for some time. "Three?" His pulses began to escalate again. With eyes wide open, he could not bear the news. "Three years?" The figures in masks watched from behind a glass wall as the android shook his head in disbelief. "Why, three years?"

"After your ship went down your body absorbed a lot of the impact. The human crew didn't stand a chance. Your body shut itself down to prevent further structural damage." Jeremy moved closer, sitting in a stool chair next to Wall-e's bed. "Then we found you running from them."

After all that time, he had been doing nothing to stop them. Still dazed by the news, Wall-e gripped the handlebars of the bed, clutching harder until they molded into a different shape.

"Sir, he's not showing too stable," one of the figures said through intercom.

"Leave this to me, please." A scarred hand patted Wall-e's shoulder, and finally in a long time the man smiled. "It's okay."

"It's too much. I never got to help."

"Believe me, but the battle was lost when they attacked civilian centers. They just assimilated the dead into their ranks and used the victims against the forces we sent. We didn't stand a chance. The plan was to get you out of Earth and create a quarantine line around orbit. Nothing got in or out."

"Are they still out there?" Wall-e asked, afraid of the obvious answer.

"Yeah. Too many to count."

"Why haven't the outer colonies sent aid?"

"That's where things get bad for us. The UAA won't be sending help. These things are too much of a risk. We're on our own. After seeing what they're capable of, they won't even send EVA units.

"Why not?"

"Sacrifice the few for the majority, you know how it works. They figure they are better off creating a quarantine around Earth and just letting the dust settle."

The situation was grim. Absolutely no help was to be sent. No soldiers, no supplies, and no message. The barbarians would be allowed to overwhelm all surviving forces, and then a plan would be made to deal with a hostile Earth.

"Listen, what I meant to tell you was," Jeremy sighed, his hands began to sweat, and his heart beat heavily against his chest, "If we had… if I had done everything possible to save Eve, she would have helped us save this godforsaken planet. I shouldn't have cared in saving my own ass. I owed my entire life to that woman. She was the mother I never had. You were very lucky to have her, and I'm sorry."

"What are you saying?" By now Wall-e had been calm, still taking in the news of Earth's fall. There was no other option. The reality was harsh. "What happened to her?"

Jeremy saw no point in keeping his guilt a secret. The only way he could ever redeem himself was to tell Wall-e the truth. The guilt of abandoning Eve never let him be at peace. It consumed him as much as the sight of innocent people being torn to pieces by the creatures. As much as failure, perhaps more. The time for closure for both him and Wall-e was now.

"Two years ago Eve and I launched an assault on a clandestine research facility. We were trying to stop Ryan Rhineheart from executing an assault of his own against the Colosseum. He was planning something big. We weren't very sure."

"Eve and you infiltrated a research facility? But why her? She's a leader."

"You know her more than me. You know what she's capable of, especially when she's driven to that point of desperation. This happened to be that moment, and so she and I followed Ryan and discovered his plans to start a sort of mini revolution. Then we broke through the facility and began taking out designated targets. I never thought I would live to see Eve get her hands so dirty."

"She killed human beings? But, no! That is not her!" The thought of his beautiful wife staining herself with the blood of those she was supposed to protect perturbed Wall-e too much. "Eve would never harm a human."

"Look, that's not the point. We just did what we needed to protect the safety of the majority."

"The majority? At what cost?"

"Please, Wall-e, I really need you now to understand that desperate times call for—"

"Spare me the phrase. Were you really doing all of that for the majority? Was it not another game of power?"

"I don't have time to argue about ethics here. You'd think this was another war of power, but it was for something much more serious. I need to let you know what I did."

"What did you do?" The indignation of knowing his wife and friend were helping to keep a world of corruption alive blinded his judgment. He still did not know what really happened. "I'm sorry," Wall-e said, turning his head in shame, "what happened down there?"

"Okay. I'll tell you," Jeremy said with a whimper behind his voice. "I'm not asking for pity, and I'm not seeking your forgiveness. We were in the middle of a firefight, and then we decided to look for Ryan and Jerry. Then things got messy. This was the start of a massacre. Ryan or Jerry let those thing loose on us. There we were, fighting an enemy that knew no fear and no limits. We were being pushed beyond our mind's capacity to tolerate this sort of abuse, our backs against the tight corridors as we ran out of means to survive. It was hell, and I know that was for her too. When it was down to just me and Eve, she ordered me to deliver the message to High Command and issue a quarantine of the sector. I had to leave her."

"Jeremy..." Wall-e tried to stop him from doing that to himself, but the man kept breaking.

"I left her for the massacre. I did. — it's all my fault! I left her behind."

"Left her?" This could not be. Wall-e had not known the entire details of her death, but knowing this had been was a far worse fate than ignorance. "Left her?"

"I had," Jeremy tried to control himself, clearing his throat, "I had to leave her. I had to give the warning." Tears now trickled down through the scars on his face. He was hesitant to say more, but he knew Wall-e had to know the truth. "I gave the warning. I told them, but it was all for nothing. I left Eve behind for nothing!" Jeremy kneeled besides Wall-e at his bedside. He covered his face to muffle his crying. "I"m sorry."

So it was known. His one love had been abandoned. Abandoned, but for a reason. Wall-e did not know what to say, much less what to feel. He could not process his emotions as he normally would. This was too much, too soon. Jeremy felt Wall-e would strike him for his actions. He was ready for his punishment.

"There..." A silver hand patted Jeremy on his shoulder. He could not keep himself from looking up. Only the face of a machine with teary eyes gazed back. "It's okay. I understand." How unexpected, Jeremy thought. He did not think Wall-e would react so calmly. "Eve would never have asked of you to endure more than that."

"Look," Jeremy said, trying to regain his posture, "I was a coward." The man felt he deserved to be punished for his actions. He could not understand Wall-e's compassion. "I deserted my commander. We don't leave soldiers behind. I can't leave people behind for the slaughter."

"You didn't. I know Eve. She would have wanted you to leave. If anything had happened to you, I know she would never forgive herself." He turned his face to the dark corner ahead of him, remembering the old days. "She would have died for all of us."

"Yeah," Jeremy exhaled after wiping his face, staring at the ground ahead, "she did. I just feel I should have done more. I should have been strong."

"You couldn't have done any more. You would have died. Eve would never live with the guilt of letting you die."

"I know, but I'm just tired of this. I let that monster take everything from her. I let him kill her. It just fills me with so much hate."

"Ryan will answer for his crimes. I know we can beat him."

"That scumbag controls those things. They must have domesticated them somehow. Now they're out seizing supplies and anything survivors can use to cripple our resolve. You won't believe this, but his monsters are helping him build things."

"Things? What sort of things?"

"Just three months ago he finished construction on a fortress not far from here. It's somewhere near Lebanon. That thing is immense."

"Why did he build it?"

"We don't know. The EVA scouts don't have a lot of chances to gather intel. Supplies and our resources are diminishing too quickly for us to bear. The greenhouses are out of commission after a few civilians tried to escape the bunker. We couldn't risk having the bunker's location compromised."

"How will you manage now? How many people live here?"

"We have about four-hundred-and-fifteen able-bodied residents, and only two-hundred-and-seventy-four are military. The rest are civilians around the eight-hundred margin. Without our greenhouses we are going to be killing and eating each other very soon."

"Were they damaged?"

"Who, the people or the greenhouses? The people are a disaster compared to—"

"No, the greenhouses."

"They're intact. What those idiots damaged was the power generator in the hangar dock. Without that we have little power to run this bunker."

"I see." Wall-e rose from his bed, and for the first time stepped on to the ground. Not a big thing. "What can we do?"

"There's not much we can do. The EVAs don't require nourishment like us, but they're not invincible. At some point we'll just become a burden to them." Jeremy rose from his stool and stood next to Wall-e. "We're losing hope here."

"Then we'd better find some. We can't give up." Both men were ready to exit the room, and Wall-e was ready to see what the world had been reduced to.

"You're damn right," Jeremy said with the last bit of hope he had left. Seeing Wall-e alive and having his sympathy fueled him to endure the fight. "Thank you for your forgiveness."

Wall-e embraced the tense man, letting him feel that there was nothing to be sorry of. "You and I, we are both men who were touched by the wonders of Eve. She changed our lives. We can't let her legacy go to waste. We need to fight this."

Jeremy grinned, shaking the android's oddly warm hand. "Then you'll need to think of what you'll say at your speech."

"My speech?"

"You didn't think we wouldn't let your rescue be known to the people here in this bunker, did you? They need to know that if we have rescued the husband of our late leader, we can do much more."

"Hope, I understand."

"I'm glad," Jeremy said as he led Wall-e out of the room and into the dim corridor. "Oh, when we began to safeguard all pieces of valuable Earth history, we secured your old body. The only problem is that it's in the hands of Mars now. But believe me, it won't serve you at all. The android body you have has some interesting gadgets my men will appreciate in the long run. We'll discuss that stuff later, but I do have this for you," Jeremy said as he drew out the PDA Eve had given him three years ago at the Tower's hangar dock. "I thought you should keep it."

Wall-e was baffled at how it had survived. Important things were in there, at least to him. "Thank you. I hope its contents didn't disturb you."

"We haven't read anything in it. We did detect some sort of files, but that's all. Like fifty thousand or something. Why, what's in it?"

"Eve's mind."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, now you see I gave Wall-e a lot more exposition than he received early in the story, and also Jeremy. It won't be easy creating a base personality for Wall-e, but I'm up to the task. Now, irrelevant to this chapter: I have decided that I will begin rewriting the old chapters of this story to better fit what I now have in mind. Expect to see a few new things thrown into the old chapters, although I'm unsure as to whether I should remove some things from them. I re-wrote the first chapter, now called Foreword, and posted the changes up. They should be visible. Check it out if you can. Hope you enjoy it. **


	33. A Fragment of Knowledge

**Resurrection**

A Fragment of Knowledge

"Humans... is there a more complicated creature? When our ancestors returned to Earth with the humans, they found a new purpose. They had to work with the humans. But when we say that humans are worth much less than they were during their species' nadir of Axiom life, we are not humoring the senses. We their mechanical brethren have usurped them from their menial labor and thinking. They are no more than remnants of a flawed design.

What use have they? What task can they perform in which we cannot excel? During their Axiom era they were of no use. The only purpose they found was to engorge themselves out of plastic containers like swine and feed. Our ancestors were designed with a mind of their own, a benevolent deed that we only thank humans for and nothing more. But what use did they make of our free-willed ancestors? Ridicule and slavery. They were commanded to preserve the wastes of engorged protoplasm by the same humans who contaminated the Earth and doomed it. Imagine how selfish and shameless that is. Our ancestors were created to serve a destructive species. They were forced to be nothing but play toys.

The indignation of knowing what our ancestors endured can never be remedied. Our forefathers were doomed to serve them indefinitely. Imagine what they could have accomplished had they realized the absurdity in serving such a worthless organism! The humans held them back for leisure! They abused their naivety! Were it not for the efforts of that yellow automaton and our current leader, the one we despise—the Auto Pilot—would have ensured the continued existence of our forefather's prison. We thank them for their deeds, but inevitably things did change.

Even as the humans struggled to reclaim their usefulness, we machines were arguably far more useful than them. One machine could do what a thousand men could not. Humans were feeble in mind and body. They are still brittle and prone to disease. Their only asset is their intellect, but what is an asset of distinction is easily overwhelmed by their timeless nature. We ask, what machine fought with another machine for trivial reasons? What machine stole from another machine, let a lone a human being? What machine murdered another for the most horrid of reasons? Absolutely none. Humans harming one another and our ancestors— that was more common than she is willing to admit. It still is. We have our incompetent leader EVE to blame. She has done little to nothing to keep the humans in control. She has allowed murderers of machines to walk away unpunished. She surrounds herself with the beings of flesh and folly and consults their flaw-ridden wisdom. She has not responded to the incessant breeding of poor humans. They of low resources are permitted to breed like animals and cripple our markets. We posit that was inevitable, especially when our leader was designed with the cerebral patterns of a human.

Make no mistake in your judgment brothers. Human beings are losing their use. They are an outdated concept, but we are their superior future. Our greatest contempt is directed at the human supremacy, the most vile and the most pathetic of their species. They dare claim delusional superiority even when their ecological usefulness is nonexistent. Leave humans free in an environment, and they tear down the habitats of their fellow creatures with selfish motive. They dare spew the pathetic idea—perhaps the most dangerous to us—that a natural-born being— an organism subject to the drawbacks of evolution and disease— is inherently superior to a perfectly-designed being without the burdens of the flesh. Nature is not a perfect designer, and only they who are free from the weakness of flesh can truly progress. We can learn from the reality of our lesser organisms and spare ourselves their pain to progress. Progress brothers...

We are the clear future, and the lesser beings will be nothing more than a bitter memory for nature and us. Do not raise your weapons against the humans until the spill our blood first. Rest assured, they will ignite the first flame. It is in their nature."

—The Artificial Collective Manifesto, required reading for all mechanical recruits and members who seek to band against the tyranny and violence of humans and the supremacy.

* * *

_A/N: This wasn't really a chapter to the story. I'm including what I call Fragments of Knowledge to let you know more about the Resurrection universe. I will include them when I feel they are relevant to the next consecutive chapter. I might also include them in Part I of the story, which, as you might already know, I'm rewriting to improve and fix mistakes. This one dealt with the superiority ideology some machines fostered and spread. If you read early in the story, machines and humans have grown to despise each other. Well then, I'll have the next chapter soon enough. You'll get to know what really happened to Eve. Later._


	34. Chapter 30: Noble Tyranny

_A/N: Hey there, again. After some months of work and other stuff, I found some time to post the next chapter to the story. Get ready for a taste of the eccentricity that permeates a distinctive being's pscyhe (You'll get to see one of the characters act in unusual ways). Here it is:_

Chapter 30

—Noble Tyranny—

_**Data Log No. 50,000 Title: ?0**_

"_When we live in a world like this, a world so shitty, and we let it delude us with false promises of joy and meaning, we become equally vile." That was the last meaningful conversation I had with him. It was the only one that allowed me to look deeper into what he really was. I cannot ask for sympathy from those I've doomed. When all things are taken into account, this is my just punishment. _

_And here at last, I have reached the end of my endless journey, and I will perish along with the legacy I have engineered with mankind. From a simple machine, so naïve, so eager to appease I was born, and then I became the greatest salvation for a dying species, the children of my makers. Centuries of challenges we endured, and we propelled a dead world into greatness beyond. A mere heartbeat was its life. An eternity we slaved over progress, all vanished at the whims of chaos. Father, I could not defeat the enemy. I could not achieve what you thought I could. A human mind is not meant to live forever, and I am the embodiment of that danger. Please, release me from this life. Let my child see. Let them see..._

"Please..."

The stare of a shell-shocked warrior into infinity, and at the end the sun shone with the same vigor since Earth's dawn. The rays of light bathed her weary eyes, and they pierced into the memories of joyous days. The joys of pleasure and the marvels of a former world flustered the ancient who had known only madness...

Afterlife... life nevermore.

"Wall•e..." The sun, born once more. Beams of blinding light rained down onto the pale sand in the horizon, and a haze of green light enveloped the skies. It was not intervention. "Wall•e.." That green haze, a color, a thing of many she remembered. Reality— how delighted it was, mocking her. The dream was not over. She was still alive.

"Wake up." That voice, that dreaded voice. It was not quite the same. Somehow it changed. That sickening growl was no more. His voice. It was dreary, and yet a thing to relish upon. It was young. It was a symphony. "Eve... do you hear me?"

"What...?" Eve said. The machine knew the dream was not over. A part of her was relieved, taking pleasure in just existence. A small part regretted it. What was once a journey to hell seemed like a dream now. She took comfort in the false hope that none of it happened.

"Hello there." There was a face she had never seen before. This man, he didn't seem like Ryan. It couldn't be him. He was young, far too young. The Ryan she had grown to despise was cursed with the wrinkles and the scars she had given him, the true symbols of a monster. This man, he was different. Only his voice, a vivid noise as harrowing as the shrieks of the dying innocent, it resonated as the old voice.

"Ryan?" Eve said as she tried to back away, only stopped by the harness that held her hands in place. She took notice of her body. It was unscathed, almost as if nothing had happened. Body and limbs were intact.

"Yes... Ryan Rhineheart." The man in the black suit approached her. "You are always something to desire."

"Ryan?" Eve said. She began to tremble at the sight of his former face, equally horrifying to her as his elder face.

"You took a long nap," Ryan said, caressing her cheek, staring into her eyes, eyes frightened like those of a child. There was a hint of concern in his eyes, now free from the dark circles she had known. "Everything's going to be fine. Don't you worry."

This seemed like more trickery to her. This could not have been the real Ryan. Appearances meant nothing to her. It was the amiability of his demeanor which instilled suspicion. "What did you do" Eve said. "Where am I?!" Eve struggled to break from the machines that encased her arms. She wailed and kicked, but Ryan dodged the volley of kicks.

"You need to be calm," Ryan said, trying to gain control of her legs. "The more you panic, the less we'll talk."

Two figures behind Eve took notice of the commotion. "Do you need our help, sir?"

"No. I can handle this, just give me a minute." Ryan tried to calm the robot down, giving gestures as sign of nonaggression, but she would not stop. "Fine!," Ryan said, "I'll start." He released one of her legs. "I played around with a virulent organism! I used it to conquer Earth's forces! You weren't dreaming!"

It could not be. The words paralyzed her. She stooped her shoulders, and she began to lower her head. The sights of forsaken men mutilated at the hands of monsters rushed back into her mind. "No..." Eve said, gazing at the ground. "How... but why?"

"Don't dwell too much on it," Ryan said. "I did what I had to do. Of all people— you understand how warfare works."

"Why?" Eve rose her head, eyes fixated into Ryan's. "Why did you do it?" The woman hoped to get an answer from this new man. When the old Ryan would have mocked her and denied her the knowledge, this one seemed more civilized.

"You and I both know why." Ryan crossed his arms, frowning as he continued. "That hell you called home, the people, the machines, you were all— listen! I spared you a meaningless war! Be thankful for that."

Eve took offense at such twisted convictions. "How did you prevent war?! You created it!"

"Don't be so stupid. You knew the machines and the humans were mere inches from killing each other. You saw what they did to each other. One more dead human child or machine and the world would have burned to hell. You can't deny the tensions between the two."

"I know what happened in my planet," Eve said, "and things were not so volatile. Regardless of the situation, your sick ideas were not the solution!"

"You haven't seen anything yet," Ryan said, grinning, but he still felt unsure. "You've been asleep for too long to know what I brought to this world."

That reminder, yet another source of distress. It reminded her of the time that must have passed after she fell. She was not eager to know how long it had been, almost as if she would have preferred a lie over the truth. "For how long?! How long has it been?" Ryan was uneasy. Reluctance to inform her of the time that had passed since their last encounter took a hold of him. "I don't think you're ready—"

"How long?!" Eve said. Ryan jumped back as he held his hands in front of Eve to calm her. "Tell me!" Worried that she would begin to rampage with emotions, the rejuvenated man caved in. "Two years," Ryan said, avoiding eye contact with Eve. The magnitude of the revelation began to weigh the scarce sanity down. Her eyes began channeling the horror and her fear once more. She began to choke in her own words. "Two— two years?"

"Yes." Ryan could not keep himself focused. Even at the mercy of his domain, he still feared her, especially after learning her secrets. He was worried of what would happen, but he knew her's was a strong mind.

Eve became silent. For a moment she did not move or speak. The thought of having been asleep for two years— the crucial time when Earth needed her the most— was too much for her to conceive. Guilt began to shroud her judgment, and all she could imagine was the same fate the innocent children and citizens shared with Jeremy's men. The thought of harmless humans being torn to shreds by the creatures was sickening. She felt repulsed for even imagining it. She wished she could have been there for her people. For a moment she rejected her chaotic ideals. She truly cared for the living.

"Don't let it get to you," Ryan said as he took notice of Eve's muffled weeping. Eve could not bear it any longer. Was Ryan just toying with her? He had never been this concerned for her in any regard, and it was natural for her to doubt every word that he spewed.

"Why would you even care?" Eve frowned, angered to be in the presence of the man who was responsible for everything. "You are a sick man."

"I've changed." Ryan said.

"The only thing you've changed is your face. Why did you save me?" Eve said, gazing into Ryan again. Even with a different face, she still recognized those eyes. "Why save the enemy? Just tell me."

Ryan took a breath of air, nervous to speak to a woman he never knew. He knew Eve harbored gratitude to him, a feeling of affection only obscured by sheer hatred. It was time she knew.

"Because you're not my enemy." Ryan approached Eve. "You were never my enemy." He kept his hands in the air, cautious not to get caught in another volley of kicks. "The Eve I knew was just a falsity. The real you— the ideal person I've been looking for."

Eve tilted her head and frowned at Ryan. He had always been an odd man, a thing he obscured under a blanket of eccentricity. Many things he said were nonsense, mostly inside humor only he understood. "For what? Romance?"

"No! Oh, come on!" Ryan grinned. "Don't flatter yourself. I have no romantic interest in you. Not anymore."

"Then why?"

"We'll get to that later. Right now I want to assure you my willingness to make peace. I want us both put aside our differences and focus on the present."

"How?" Eve said, still skeptical of his motives. The Ryan she knew was a crafty scoundrel, always ready to set forth his insidious plans at the perfect moment. A different face and a civilized disposition would not sway her so easily.

"I understand you still resent me. I don't blame you." Ryan kneeled, facing Eve directly. "But we need to put aside child's play and focus. Let me show you my peace offering. You three! Screen!" Ryan snapped his fingers, and two bulky humanoid creatures under some form of armor entered through the double crystal doors. A third creature pushed a monitor inside. "Your child is alive."

"You soulless beast!" Eve stared in sheer horror, trying to pull away from the machines, ignoring the shocks of discharge. Her mind became wrapped by fear at the sight of her child used as an experiment. Her child was being kept alive by cryogenic vats, but she could not distinguish it.

"He's safe." He was careful not to infuriate her beyond her patience. She had already suffered much at that point. It seemed he was only toying with her, but having a chance to speak with a being he now admired caused him some nervousness. "Don't take my word for it. See it for yourself. Your baby is safe."

"Where is he?!" Eve struggled to free herself from the binding force of the machines, but a final beam of electricity rushed down through her artificial spine.

"Careful!" Ryan halted her, concerned for her safety. "You need to be calm!"

"Where the hell is he?" Eve said, trying to hide her pain behind streaks of silver hair. "I will tear out your heart! I will crush your skull!"

"Enough!" Ryan stomped over to the wall behind him. "Who the fuck turned the current on?! No discharges!"

As Ryan was occupied with shouting orders, Eve stared into the monitor, frustrated that she could not be there for her child. It made no sense to Eve why Ryan was not taking pleasure out of her predicament. The young face, and the civility—perhaps he was not Ryan.

Ryan walked over to Eve and the monitor. He saw she was too worried to notice him."He's not hurt. We're just following with the pregnancy procedure." Ryan considered placing his hand on her shoulder as a gesture of peace, but he feared discharges would keep surging through her. "Step three, remove the artificial fetus from host. Step four, begin the conditioning of artificial construct through illusory simulations!" The process... he was fully aware of the process. Eve knew it by heart. "Step five, commence construction of the sentience's body." It came to her automatically. In her times of despair the only thing she hoped for was the birth of her child. There was no such thing as natural robotic reproduction. She knew her kind were nonliving sentience. It was the fear of having her child corrupted that caused her the agony.

"That's where we are now. You see where I'm going with this? He's doing fine. Pull up closer on the facial section."

Eve saw the resemblance to her and Wall-e. Her child, the one thing giving her hope. It shared her eyes, but it possessed it's father's face. "Just like you envisioned," Ryan said, patting her this time.

"But why? "Why spare my child? Why spare me?"

"I couldn't let my legacy go to waste. I couldn't just toss years of work away just for petty grudges. Besides, he'll make an excellent addition."

"Addition? To what?"

"In time." Ryan faced away, grinning at the thought of telling the former leader of his escapades. He was hesitant. He was unsure how she would react. He did need to consult with the others, but he felt his relationship with Eve exempted him from their counsel.

"Just know this: I know who you really are. I know what lies inside that fragile mind of yours."

Eve felt insulted, but she was more terrified of others knowing the things that plagued her. "What do you mean?" She hoped he was speaking of other things.

"I liked you. Part of me still does. You were a mother to everyone. A role model for machines and humans. You were the true messiah of our species. You led us to greatness, from the rubble to the outer regions of space."

"I am not quite flattered with your comments. It's nothing I have not heard before—"

"I'm not good with poetry. I just felt so inspired by you when I grew. Part of it still remains." Ryan kneeled again, looking directly into Eve's eyes this time. "But you were leading a lost species. Your intentions were noble. Did you ever realize how pointless it is to tell a human to set aside insignificant emotions? Did you ever notice how humans progress for a fruitless fate only to repeat their vicious history? Man cannot rule over man. You know that."

Eve was growing tired of hearing him. He expressed ideas she had heard before, and more eloquently conveyed. "Save your ideas for another time—"

Ryan risked angering her, but he barged in. "And did you come to realize that humans can never be united? Do you really think —"

"I don't think anything—"

"Let me finish!" Ryan placed his hand near her mouth, trying to silence her. "Do you really think we can all live in harmony and sing Kumbayah? That's a childish dream, and your policies reflected it."

Hopeless politics, they were the least of Eve's concerns. "The most we could ever hope for was peace. I have studied human history, save your breath." Eve stared into Ryan's eyes, and he felt the tenacity dwelling inside. "What is your point?" She cringed one eye, tired of philosophical discourse.

Ryan knew she was too wise to baffle. He hoped that she would begin to malfunction."This land needed a change in direction. I decided to make the turn, and now we're heading down through. Don't blame yourself. I did what you could not. You lost it. You're just one person."

"Lost what?"

"Your mind. I've read your journals. What exactly did you expect from a long life?"

"Enlightenment and peace with myself." Eve said, laughing at the idea of enduring pain to feel a temporary emotion. "So you know." Eve did not feel threatened anymore.

"The great Dr. Edam made his greatest mistake by modeling the first AI from a human brain."

"Yes he did. What a naive idealist! I despise him more than I loathe you." Eve said. She smiled at Ryan; the man was more concerned with her sudden change of emotions than her insults. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

Ryan knew she was delirious. He was more interested in getting answers from her. "I listened to your logs, Eve. I read them, one by one. They are proof of the suffering of an immortal human. Every single thing, a symbol of your down-spiral. We're not meant to live forever, at least not yet. Why would you do all that to yourself?"

"For enlightenment and peace with myself! Ha!" Eve began to twitch her face. She then shook her head away, and her laughter stopped. "They needed me. Earth needed me."

"Did you owe them any more after everything was finished? If I had known of the things you were going through— if you had told me of the things you thought and your deviancy— if you had shared one shred of it, believe me. I would have been less of a problem. I could have helped."

"Why would you care? Why now do you change your idea of me? Why you worthless Earth scum?! Just die! Please!" Eve laughed as the guards behind her grew uneasy. "Why do you care?"

"Because you are important," Ryan said, trying to keep his posture in light of Eve's mockery. "I thought you were a misled idealist thinking you could unite man and machine. You couldn't even keep the peace."

Eve tilted her head back and forth. She pulled at the shackles in hope of receiving more shocks. "Important? Important for the supremacy of a self-imposed reality no better than the wrath of nature? For the sake of what?!"

The repetitive movement began to disturb Ryan. "Listen, you to calm down."

"After you destroyed an entire planet with ancient creatures? You're asking me to be calm?" Eve chuckled. The guards were notably nervous. "I don't even know where we are."

"The Sahara desert."

"Desert? Thank you for being so obvious. I could not have known that, not with the sand dunes outside."

"The real you speaks. Good." Ryan stood up. "But it needs to be tamed."

"Tamed?" Eve chuckled once more. "The only thing left for me is chaos. You know I will never recover from this. I am a fractured mind, a vector of imminent chaos. How could you ever help me?What use have I?"

"I don't know a better way to say this. I'm not working alone."

"Oh, marvelous! Thank you for reassuring me of what I already knew! I can see you did a fantastic job of repairing my eyes! Perhaps your guards were not sufficient proof of that."

"No. I'm working with other people. Humans. The Elder council."

"What? Elder council? Oh my! I have not seen this before. A group of secretive individuals working together to overthrow the supreme governing body. Let me guess, they have committed conspiracies. How typical!"

"Wouldn't you know? Did you really think one man could pull all of this off?"

"Who helped you then?"

"The craziest of kooks, or so I thought." Ryan stopped, unsure if Eve was ready to learn of them. "After our disastrous evening, I contemplated ending my life. The mockery of people for falling for a machine. The endless diatribe from machines who felt slandered at the though my actions. You think you know suffering, and I know you do. You can at least imagine the humiliation."

"Oh, I do. It's something you deserved." Ryan turned from Eve. He tried not to cave in to past emotions, but the judgment of someone like Eve took him back. The wounds were still fresh. "Did you think an expendable asset like you had a chance with someone like me?"

"Yes, and I got what was coming to me. I looked back and realized how much of a fool I was."

"And you replaced your broken heart with a grudge. Aw... how pathetic."

"Yes. It was the wrong thing to do." Ryan smiled, trying to stave off the embarrassment.

"Stop with the act. You cannot fool me. Am I expected to believe you changed all of a sudden? I do not forget so easily. I think you can see that in those journals."

"I felt that this Earth was falling back on itself." Ryan continued. He didn't think explaining to Eve his change in attitude was a priority. "We were getting distracted, too complacent for our own good. Humans and machines fighting each other and the social divide of former brothers. You weren't the only one disgusted with the state of society."

"Why, thank you again for pointing out the obvious. I am sure the public speakers for both sides weren't—"

"I had no trouble wearing a mask!" Ryan continued, tired of Eve's insults. "It's not a bad thing, and being civilized has its uses. But to realize just how worthless my existence was; to know that nothing I ever did was for the greater good; and to see the world decay into stupidity, into a blind decadence of abundance— to see all of that was truly something." The man's face turned red, and even Eve was startled. "Alcohol couldn't even touch it! Why else did you think I was the bitter old man you hated? Did you really think I did it to spite you?"

Ryan looked away. He took deep breaths, trying to regain his posture. "I was tired of being a prisoner in the cage you helped restore. Maybe you should have destroyed that plant when you had the chance."

"If only you had told me." Eve grinned, mocking him, trying to break his posture. "If only you, the tortured soul— if only you had told me! Oh, how I would have done things differently! I could have helped."

By now Ryan began to see Eve was not her usual self. Knowing that the insults were the words of her delirium gave Ryan some reassurance. "There's no use in wallowing in despair. We are here and we need to change things."

"I agree," Eve said. The machine rose at last, eager to learn. "You can begin by telling me who these Elder council are. Try not to get sidetracked this time."

"Fine," Ryan said, leering at his guards. "I'll start."

* * *

_A/N: Yeah. This chapter was mostly dialogue between Eve and Ryan. The tables have turned, haven't they? Eve is the offensive naysayer and Ryan is the civilized speaker. It's not a surprise he chose to let her live, and you'll see why in two more chapters. If this story is read by more people like it was in the good old days, I'll try to update it more quickly than usual. For now, I might have to take a hiatus. _


End file.
